Skin Care

Perhaps more than any other organ of the body, the skin is multidimensional; in the totality of human experience the skin is key. It is a physical presence and section 2 of this content considers in some depth the biology of the skin. But the skin goes way beyond this. It has emotional and psychological importance, it can affect whether we are discriminated against, or not, it is a sexual organ, it is a work of art (and a canvass for works of art), it is used to determine social acceptability, it is a tool to market everything from the obvious (make-up) to the less obvious (sanitary towels) and we use and abuse it in the pursuit of youth and beauty.

This introductory section to ‘Principles of Skin Care: A Guide for Nurses and Other Health Care Professionals’ is a light hearted look at the skin and what it means to us as humans. It is however, a significant section. To be able to care for patients who have dysfunctional skin, it is key to understand what is meant by skin health. Whilst much of the rest of this content is dedicated to describing what happens when the skin is no longer healthy, there is a recurrent theme of using nursing skills to promote skin health and prevent disease.
Thus, this section looks to answer the questions about what is skin and what is the human experience of skin, through a cultural lens. The multifaceted concept of skin health is introduced and will be revisited as a key topic throughout the content. Finally a summary of the contents of the content will be given.