INTEGUMENTARY

• Integumentary system


  Includes the skin and accessory structures, such as hair, nails, and glands. It forms the boundary between the body and the external environment.

  
• Functions of the integumentary system


  • Protection
  • Sensation
  • Temperature regulation
  • Vitamin D production
  • Excretion
• Protection


  • The skin's structure reduces the negative and harmful effects of ultraviolet light, acts as a barrier to keep microorganisms from entering the body, and prevents dehydration by reducing water loss.
• Sensation

  • The integumentary system has sensory receptors that can detect heat, cold, touch, pressure and pain.
• Temperature regulation


  • The skin plays a major role in regulating body temperature through the modulation of blood flow through the skin and the activity of sweat glands.
• Vitamin D production

  • When exposed to ultraviolet light, the skin produces a molecule that can be transformed into the hormonal form of Vitamin D, an important regulator of calcium homeostasis.
• Excretion


  • Small amount of waste products are excreted through the skin and glands.
• Skin color


  Determined by pigments in the skin and blood circulating through the skin. Melanin is the group of pigments primarily for skin, hair and eye color.
• Common diseases in the integumentary system

  • Acne
  • Dandruff
  • Eczema
• Dermatologist


  A medical doctor who specializes in conditions that affect the skin, hair, and nails.
• Doctors have more difficulty diagnosing disease when looking at images of darker skin.

  
• When diagnosing skin diseases based solely on images of a patient's skin, dermatologists accurately characterized about 38 percent of the images they saw, but only 34 percent of those that showed darker skin. General practitioners, who were less accurate overall, showed a similar decrease in accuracy with darker skin.

  
• 4 types of exocrine glands: sudoriferous gland (sweat gland), sabaceus gland (regulate oily substances, sebum), cerominous gland (produces cerumen), and mammary gland (highly evolved & specialized organ, aterior chest wall)