What is the integumentary system?
Your integumentary system is your body’s outer layer. It’s made up of your skin, nails, hair and the glands and nerves on your skin. Your integumentary system acts as a physical barrier — protecting your body from bacteria, infection, injury and sunlight. It also helps regulate your body temperature and allows you to feel skin sensations like hot and cold.
What makes up the integumentary system?
Your integumentary system is an organ that consists of a few main structures: skin, nails, hair and glands, along with the nerves and blood vessels that support them.
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Skin
Your skin is the largest and heaviest organ in your body. It weighs about six pounds (or more) and is approximately 2 millimeters thick — thinner on sensitive areas like eyelids, and thicker on surfaces that take more stress, like the soles of your feet. One inch of your skin contains nearly 19 million cells.
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Your skin is composed of three layers, with nerves that recognize different sensations in each layer:
- Epidermis: The top layer of your skin. This is the part of your skin that you can see and touch. It’s made up of three types of cells: melanocytes, keratinocytes and Langerhans. It gives your skin its color and provides a waterproof barrier.
- Dermis: The middle layer of your skin. This layer is the thickest. It contains sweat and oil glands and hair follicles.
- Hypodermis: The bottom layer of your skin. It’s the fatty layer of your skin that helps insulate your body.
Nails
Your nails protect the ends of your fingers and toes. The anatomy of your nail consists of:
- Nail plate: The hard part of your nail you can see.
- Nail bed: The skin under your nail plate.
- Cuticle: The thin skin at the base of your nail plate.
- Matrix: The “root” of your nail responsible for making it grow.
- Lunula: The white, moon-shaped part of your nail plate.
Hair
Our hair does more than help us look nice. The hair on your head helps keep heat in your body. Your eyelashes and eyebrows help protect your eyes from dirt and water.
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Your hair is made of a protein called keratin. Your hair consists of three parts: the shaft, follicle and bulb.
- Hair shaft: The part of your hair you can see, touch and style.
- Hair follicle: The tube-like structure that keeps your hair in your skin.
- Hair bulb: Located under your skin and responsible for hair growth.
Goosebumps are caused by your integumentary system. We all have hair erector muscles connected to our hair follicles and skin. When it contracts, it makes your hair stand up. The “goosebumps” are what we see when these tiny muscles contract.
Glands
Glands are found throughout your skin. They release materials like water, salt or oil from under your skin to the surface of your skin. Your integumentary system consists of the following glands:
- Sudoriferous glands: These are the glands that secrete sweat through your skin. There are two types of sweat glands: eccrine glands and apocrine glands. Eccrine glands are all over your body and open to your pores, while apocrine glands open into your hair follicles.
- Sebaceous glands: These glands produce sebum (oil) and give your face its oil.
- Ceruminous glands: These are the glands in your ear that secrete ear wax.
- Mammary glands: These are the glands on a person’s chest. In people assigned female at birth (AFAB), mammary glands produce milk after giving birth.
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