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Human Skin Uses


Human skin2

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Im looking into the uses and need for human skin, could anyone give me there ideas?

Our uses and need for intact skin? Or are you talking about skin that has been removed from its host? Your choice of starting this thread in Amateur Science Equipment makes me ask.

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Hoping that [imath]\phi-4-all[/imath] is right in saying that you mean living human skin for the benefit of the individual concerned - any other alternative is not pleasant.

 

We can use the skin as a test surface before putting potentially noxious chemicals in our body. Please note I heard the following in a survival context not a scientific context so I must warn you not to take as proven fact - but in a situation where the only things to eat are berries, fungi etc that could be highly toxic, the first stage is merely to smell them (if the smell makes you gag or is very unpleasant then discard) the next is to rub a tiny amount onto the skin (to check for irritation), then onto the lips etc. It's not fool proof but, according to my teachers it does remove some very unpleasant surprises. Of course the first rule is stick to meat, fish and stuff you can positively identify - but after that...

 

The same idea of testing a substance (that will eventually be taken internally) on the skin first is used in allergy testing http://en.wikipedia....in_allergy_test

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Our uses and need for intact skin? Or are you talking about skin that has been removed from its host? Your choice of starting this thread in Amateur Science Equipment makes me ask.

 

Actually, the OP posted this in an unrelated thread. I moved it to this board as a joke.

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  • 3 weeks later...

A very unusual use for human skin is as a substitute kidney. The skin in cooperation with the sweat glands can actually filter out many of the same toxins as are normally removed by the kidney, and in people dying of renal failure this can result in the production all over the patient of a white 'uremic frost,' which used to be observed in renal patients often in the days before dialysis. Unfortunately, the skin's capacity to make up for absent renal function is quite limited, so life cannot be preserved in this way.

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Speaking of flensing, I used to tell students that skin is necessary to keep people from getting ill. Everybody would get sick if they could see everybody else without their skin on. I don't know about uses, but skin is our biggest organ. It is very important for temperature control (sweat glands and surface capillary beds), it makes you water proof and prevents dehydration by keeping water in, it is a sensory organ, it protects against invasion of foreign organisms and maintains a group of immune cells ready to report and deal with a problem, and it maintains a tough surface against wear, tear, and UV light. In short, its function is to protect and serve. SM

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