Describe the tissue layers making up the skin. How are skin cells in the epidermis replaced?
The skin is composed of several tissue layers. Located under the dermis is the layer of very loose connective tissue that joins the skin to the body. This layer, not technically part of the skin, houses many fat cells. The skin's inner layer or dermis consists of connective tissue surrounding several types of specialized structures, including hair follicles, sebaceous glands, sweat glands, capillary blood vessels, and nerves. In the skin's outer layer or epidermis, which is composed of stratified squamous cells, active cell division constantly occurs. The new cells push from deep within the layer toward the outside. The new cells continually replenish the epidermis's outermost layer, the stratum corneum, which consists of hardened, dead cells that are continually being sloughed off the body.
