How many layers of skin does a person have? How many layers do they shed each day?

Answer 1

The skin is composed of three basic layers. The 'dermis' is the deepest layer and it is responsible for making new skin cells; the 'hypodermis' is a middle layer of maturing cells; and the 'epidermis' is the outer-most, superficial skin layer and the only one of the skin layers that sheds, or sloughs off, dead cells.

You can read more about it here:
http://www.mattek.com/pages/products/epidermft

and here:
http://education.vetmed.vt.edu/Curriculum/VM8054/Labs/Lab14/Lab14.htm

Here's an interesting tid-bit of info: All of your skin, every single cell of it from the deepest layer through to the top-most layer, is replaced by new cells in a three week period of time. This means that twenty-one days from now, you'll be wearing a totally brand-spanking-new birthday suit. Don't forget this fact if you're ever tempted to run around naked, showing off your skin to the whole wide world - it's probably the only reasonable excuse you can use to keep you from being arrested and it might end up... "saving your skin."

[][][] r u randy? [][][]
.

Answer 2

How Many Layers Of Skin

Answer 3

while there are 3 layers, the only one that shed is the very uppermost one which is the stratified squamous epithelium, which has quite a few cells, the ones nearer to the bottom of the layer are very much alive while the ones near the top are very much dead.

Answer 4

3 layers - but people shed cells, not entire skin layers - thank goodness - that would just be gross.

Answer 5

Psst, hey, your epidermis is showing....