How Well Do You Know the Skin You’re In?
If you eat a lot of carrots, it can turn your skin orange.
Carrots have a lot of beta-carotene, which gives them their color. The orange skin thing sometimes happens to babies -- carrots are a favorite first food -- and people who juice carrots.
Why does your skin get wrinkly in the bath?
Once it's gone -- prune fingers! Your skin soaks up some water and gives you those ridges. So what’s the point of the wrinkles, you ask? Experts think it’s your body’s way of helping you. It’s easier to pick up wet things and less slippery with wrinkly fingers. They give you a little traction and grip.
Your skin is your largest organ
Stretched out flat, the skin of a grown, 150-pound man would weigh about 9 pounds and cover about a 6-foot by 6-foot area. Your skin has three layers and a lot of jobs. It protects your muscles, bones, nerves, and everything else that’s inside your body. It also helps you stay warm or cool. Every inch of your skin has hundreds of sweat and oil glands, nerve endings, and blood vessels.
Only people with light skin can sunburn.
If you have darker skin, your body makes more pigment than people who have lighter skin. That pigment is called melanin. It helps protect your skin from the sun. But more melanin doesn’t mean you’re safe. Even people with darker skin can sunburn and get skin cancer. It’s important to wear sunscreen.
You've got skin tags. Should you be worried?
These small, raised bumps that hang off the skin are harmless. They show up on places where skin rubs against clothing or on body folds, like your armpits. You can also get them on your eyelids. Your doctor can take them off if they bother you or get snagged on clothes and jewelry. Sometimes they fall off on their own.