What To Know About Keratin

    

Keratin is a major component in living things specifically the animals. It constitutes the outer structural materials of the body search as the skin, hair, hooves, nails, and the horns. The keratin substance has its constituent building blocks from proteins, which are derived from the amino acids. The keratinocytes, the cells that form keratin are found in the skin slowly pushes its way upwards eventually dying and form a protective layer. The amino acids that combine to form this kind of protein have several unique properties that allow the organ so formed to be tough and inflexible, like the hooves and the nails, or be soft like the skin and hair. 

The skin, for example, is formed from the dead tissues of the body as new cells push up from beneath. Keratin also forms part of the ear canal that shields the entry of microorganisms into the eardrum. Therefore, keratin plays a major role in the body’s protection against infections. Absence of keratin in the ear also invites other problems such as chronic itching, hearing aid earnold discomfort and predisposition for chronic extern otitis.

In fact, the skin is the most important body organ that offers protection against disease causing pathogens. As such, this simply means that keratin being a major constituent of the skin is very essential in facilitating this crucial function of the skin. Therefore, any inhibition of keratin would pave way for infections to the body as well as other skin disorders. There are some infectious fungi such the dermatophytes that cause diseases like athlete’s foot and ringworm, and the chytrid fungi that feed on keratin. These   microorganisms can cause the skin to lose its ability to prevent entry of pathogens in the body when one is exposed to materials that may be harboring them.

Apart from these pathogens, other conditions may result to damage of keratin. These include genetic diseases such as Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis that cause mutations in the keratin genes. This skin disease affects the keratin by causing the clumping of the keratin filaments. It affects around one or two persons in a population of 250,000 people, therefore is a rare type of disease. It starts affecting the skin right from birth. Affected babies may have red skin severe blisters on their bodies. The babies are at risk of developing infections.

As seen above, keratin is very essential for human body and anything that undermines its formation and performance should be addressed with great concern. Any form of hair and skin disorders that may start showing symptoms of should be given proper medical attention, as failure to that may lead to skin complications that may probably pave way for secondary infections. Regular checkups for newborns should be done to ensure that they are free from risks. There are hair products that are specially manufactured for keratin enhancements. These products are specially formulated to contain natural keratin protein for rebuilding, restoring, and rejuvenating the hair. The most popular ones are those meant for hair treatment as skin treatment is mostly through medical care.