Skin and Birthmarks by Tori

Did you know that every 30 seconds your skin sheds about 30,000 dead skin cells? In class we are working on skin. My topic in class is birthmarks. This is what I learned.

          Facts about birthmarks

• Birthmarks are caused by abnormal blood vessels under the skin.
• Pigmented birthmarks are caused by clustering of pigment cells.
• Usually birthmarks go away by themselves.
• Rarely people need surgery to get rid of birthmarks.
• Birthmarks are usually purple, red, pink and brown.
• Birthmarks usually appear at birth.

Here are some facts about skin.

• Your skin is the biggest organ in your body, for an average person it covers about 2 square meters.
• Skin that is badly cut heals itself by forming scar tissue, which is different from skin tissue because it lacks hair and sweat glands.
• Skin is approximately 15% of your body weight.
• Every square inch on your body there's about 19 million cells and up to 300 sweat glands.
• Skin is home to 1,000 species of bacteria and contains over 11 miles of blood vessels.