Chapter Overview

This chapter describes the skin and its appendages. It explains the structure and function of the layers of skin (dermis and epidermis) and the hair, nails, and sweat glands (objectives 1-5). This chapter also explains how the skin helps regulate body temperature and how it responds to environmental factors, such as sunlight and injury (objectives 6 and 7).

Study of the integumentary system is essential to understanding how the body controls interaction between the internal and external environments.