title: Structure and function of the skin. Are there differences between black and white skin?
abstract: In concluding my remarks on structure and function of the skin, I wish to make one additional observation. Most dermatologists have acknowledged the role of the skin and its ability to protect the human organism from invasion by pathogenic organisms. There is good scientific evidence that skin plays an important protective role. Although an intact epidermis is of utmost importance as a protective unit, the contribution of the "acid mantle" is of considerable magnitude. The acidity or alkalinity and stability of this mantle is contributed to, in large measure, by the presence of eccrine gland secretions and sebaceous gland secretions. It is then not logical to assume that if black skin contains larger numbers of large and overly active adnexal glands, it would have a most effective mechanism for control of bacterial, viral, and other infections? That this is not the situation becomes apparent in the discussions that follow on cutaneous infections in black skin.
mesh_terms: D044383:Black People; D006801:Humans; D012867:Skin / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000208:ethnology; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D044465:White People