Ready for something a bit different? Today we have Digital Salty and Digital spice sharing with you the highlights from Spice's recent 3BY article about The Prepper's Skin.
Don't worry, Analog Salty and Analog Spice are just fine, Salty just thought everybody might find this a somewhat humorous approach to a topic that is, as Digital Spice would (and did) say was only skin deep.
Check us out at Beans, Bullets, Bandages & You!
Ready for something a bit different? Today we have Digital Salty and Digital spice sharing with you the highlights from Spice's recent 3BY article about The Prepper's Skin.
Don't worry, Analog Salty and Analog Spice are just fine, Salty just thought everybody might find this a somewhat humorous approach to a topic that is, as Digital Spice would (and did) say was only skin deep.
Check us out at Beans, Bullets, Bandages & You!
Hello, everybody.
Digital Salty:Hello everybody, and welcome to the show. The Big Show, the most important and critically acclaimed podcast that is recorded inside of well, inside of salties computer. I'm digital salty. And with me today here inside the computer is Digital Spice. And we are here to talk to you today about
Digital Spice:today we are here to talk about the preppers skin. And in fact, digital spice is going to read to you the highlights from my or I guess you would say her since I'm just a robot AI voice article on beans, bullets, bandages and you don't worry human salty and human spice. We'll be back with you next episode that goofy old salty just thought this would be a fun way to do a podcast about a topic that is only skin deep
Digital Salty:and really Digital Spice you have to go there? Anyway, here is the article we hope you find the information of interest and abuse
Digital Spice:The prepper skin, skin is your main contact point with the rest of the world that makes it your most important immune system organ. It's also most exposed to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. In this piece. We'll look at the physiology of how skin works. And then we'll use that to look at aspects most important to preppers how skin is built. Basically, skin has three layers. The epidermis is the outer layer, it's many cell layers deep, the deepest layers are still alive, stacking themselves full of tough and water resistant molecules. By the time they get close to the surface. They're dead, but will still provide protection for a couple of weeks or so before being slept off. The epidermis has no blood supply and nails are outgrowths of the epidermis. The important part the part that makes the nail grow is back behind the cuticle. Skin grows nails. the dermis is where most of the physiology lives in the cells that generate the epidermis snuggle up next to the blood vessels that loop up from the dermis. The hair follicles and oil glands are rooted in the dermis. They share the real estate with sensory cells and with the fibroblasts and fibroblasts build a network of strong and elastic proteins that is the heart of the layer and they'll regenerate other skin structures to if they need to skin structure under the dermis as the hypodermis it's mostly the subcutaneous fat, it cushions and insulates but isn't very physiologically exciting sources of skin damage. We all know sharp and or abrasive bits of the outside world damage the skin and UV radiation does to as the skin absorbs all of that energy and excess heat or cold will do damage to of course, that's all obvious. Let's look a little deeper, too much moisture retention and too much drying both compromise the skin. Drying is most likely to cause cracks, negating several layers of very nice protective barrier. Too much moisture helps Fundy grow and weakens the structure that makes moisturizing especially in the winter. With its low humidity and actual health prep, not just a fluffy extravagance. How about chemical exposure is the most common effects or drying effects from solvents that dissolve lipids. I see a lot of moisturizer happening this winter 2020 as I write this, with all the alcohol based sanitizer being used, nonpolar solvents can absorb well across the skin too. I remember one day I was mixing up a solution of nicotine and a pinhead sized droplet landed between glove and lab coat. I noticed it when I started having a bit of heart palpitation. The biggest problem with skin injuries and skin's foremost function is to keep the outside world out. And when you break the skin, you lose that protection and it's that simple. It's simple but not unimportant. Seriously, folks, I have a friend who literally nearly lost her hand to a hangnail and a stinking hangnail and it got infected hard and fast and the bug was resistant to the first several antibiotics tried. She ended up with surgery and a permanent loss of range of motion. That kind of event will just ruin your casual attitude about breaking the skin barrier. About the only kinds of infections you can get on unbroken skin are a few types of fungus, such as athlete's foot and ringworm, which is not a worm. ringworm is the only thing I can think of that can infect across skin that's both unbroken and not especially moist and protected. Therefore, the best preps against skin infections involve not breaking the skin. This most often comes up in the context of blisters. There's a full article if you follow that link, but the short form is don't pop a blister if you can avoid it. The skin over the top is or will soon be dead, but it's still providing protection and damage control on broken skin is the focus of this thesis and non specifics of wound care advice. That's something a prepper should know in decent depth, so I won't pretend I can do a good job with it here. There are a couple of points that are worth the electrons dimension though. First, second, and third cleaning. Every little bit of the outside world is literally teeming with microbes that would love to live in your warm, sweet self and the less of those pieces you leave in there, the better give your immune system a fighting chance. closure of the dermis can regrow more surface layers pretty well in the dermis can fill some gaps in itself, but much more slowly and with much less satisfactory outcomes and big gaps are not likely to end up the way you'd like. That's why getting wound edges as close together as possible and stabilizing them in that position is so important. stitches, staples, glue, even butterfly bandages help but unless you have a good reason not to bring those skin edges back together if you can burn skin has special needs. Burns follow some of the usual rules of clean is better than dirty. Closed is better than open and they also have some special considerations and most kinds of wounds who wouldn't want a moist cover? for serious burns you do? Learn to diagnose burn seriousness and know what to do about it. nails are part of the skin too, until they aren't. According to my hiking partner. I became a real hiker about six weeks after we did our rim to rim Grand Canyon hike. That's how long it took for the toenail. I slammed into a rock at the bottom of the canyon to finally fall off and I took no pics You're welcome. trauma to nails, finger or toe can cause them to separate from the nail bed. So long as the separation doesn't damage the route, you have a shot to complete eventual recovery. My case was typical and often it's not a single trip slash impact but friction damage from ill fitting footwear. I barely treated it mostly just a Nic to the blood blister under the nail when the pressure was becoming troublesome and keeping it very clean. When the nail was almost but not quite ready to fall off. I put athletic tape on it for a couple of days to keep it from wrenching off early. And then I spent months regrowing and now I'm not having one for a time cause no real problem. And I bring this up mostly to emphasize that this sort of injury is not rare and does not necessarily require intervention care for the skin. People are tempted to ignore petty safety precautions when they have bigger troubles. That might mean walking on when you're feeling a rub or not putting on gloves when you're trying to patch over windows broken by stuff hitting the fan. I see the temptation but really, when is the worst time to have a Festering Wound. Being in tough circumstances makes it even more important to take care of that skin. clean skin not to dry but not eternally moist is very resilient stuff and take care of it and it will do a much better job of protecting the rest of you