PATH 300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Elastin, Genetic Predisposition, Basal-Cell Carcinoma

• School: McGill University
• Department: Pathology
• Course: PATH 300
• Professor: Edith Zorychta

Document Summary

Your skin is your largest organ and it varies in different parts of the body. Diseases of the skin are quite common and include skin cancer, acne, atopic eczema, psoriasis, viral warts, other infective skin disorders, benign tumors and vascular lesions, leg ulcers, contact dermatitis and other eczemas. Factors in skin disease can be internal or external. Internal: psychological factors, genetic factors, internal disease, drugs, infections: external: things that disrupt its barrier function sun, heat/cold, chemicals (allergens, irritants), infections, trauma friction. Frequency of skin disorders varies with age. See figure 1: skin tumors are more common as people age, mainly due to accumulated sun damage, acne tends to peak in adolescence. There are three layers: epidermis, dermis, subcutaneous adipose tissue. Other structures: hair shaft, sebaceous glands, sweat glands. Blood vessels are extensive vessels end at the dermis (there are no capillaries in the epidermal layer).