Integumentary System and Skin Anatomy Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering skin cancers, pigmentation, epidermal layers, hair structures, and dermal features based on the lecture transcript.

Cutaneous Carcinomas

Skin growths that develop from hard, dry, scaly growths with reddish bases; they may be flat or raised, are firmly adhered to the skin, and mainly affect light-skinned people.

Cutaneous Melanomas

Skin lesions pigmented with melanin that often feature a variety of colored areas such as brown, black, gray, and blue, have an irregular outline, and may feel bumpy.

Melanocytes

The only cells that produce melanin, which absorbs UV radiation and gives the skin its color.

Eumelanin

A melanin pigment that is brownish-black in color.

Pheomelanin

A melanin pigment that is reddish-yellow in color and found only in certain locations like the lips.

Stratum Corneum

An epidermal layer of dead skin cells 20-20 thick that protects deeper layers.

Stratum Lucidum

Thin layers of clear cells found specifically in the thick skin of the palms and soles.

Stratum Granulosum

An epidermal layer where cells begin to flatten and disintegrate, and keratin granules waterproof the skin.

Stratum Spinosum

A spiny layer of irregularly shaped cells, many cells thick, that contains pre-keratin filaments.

Stratum Basale

The epidermal layer that divides and pushes up cells into the next layer.

Lines of Cleavage

Orientation lines in the skin important for guiding surgical incisions; making cuts parallel to these lines promotes quick and scarless healing.

Hypodermis

The subcutaneous layer composed of loose fatty connective tissue that connects skin to muscle or bone, insulates, and stores nutrients, but is not an actual part of the skin.

Hair Papilla

A structure located at the base of the hair containing capillaries that aid in cell division for hair growth in the bulb.

Friction Ridge (Epidermal Ridge)

A raised portion of the epidermis caused by dermal papillae of the underlying skin layer, forming patterns of ridges and valleys on fingertips.

Loop

The most common type of fingerprint pattern.