How Much Skin Do You Grow?

Your skin is constantly changing — in fact, it’s your body’s largest organ and it works hard to protect you.

Your skin is constantly changing — in fact, it’s your body’s largest organ and it works hard to protect you. Every minute, your body sheds about 30,000 to 40,000 dead skin cells. Over the course of a year, you can grow and shed roughly 9 pounds (about 4 kilograms) of skin! The skin renews itself every 28 to 40 days, meaning you get a “new” layer of skin about once a month. This incredible process is part of what keeps your body clean, protected from infection, and capable of healing itself after injury.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Why do you think the body sheds skin so often? What might happen if it didn’t?
  2. How does understanding how skin works help us take better care of it?
  3. What surprised you the most about how much skin we grow and shed each year?
  4. The skin is called the body’s largest organ. Why do you think it’s classified as an organ, and not just a covering?
  5. Can you think of any ways your lifestyle (diet, hygiene, environment) might affect how your skin regenerates?