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Medical Scribblings - 10 March 2004

If you have been a mum you may remember some stuff called Vernix. It’s the white greasy looking layer that covers babies when they are born. In the past it was quickly washed off to make the baby look sweet and lovely but more recently it has been appreciated that Vernix probably is important stuff.

It’s nearly all water in fact, with some protein and fats which are the remains of the surface layer of the skin. Interestingly it is absent in premature babies causing quite a lot of problems. Recent research has shown that it protects the baby’s skin from infections, helps to keep moisture in and acts like a blanket to retain the body heat.

The race is now on to develop artificial vernix that has the same properties and can be used in premature babies to give them the same protection as the natural material. The other area that would benefit greatly is in dealing with severe burns where the ability to keep in water and keep out infections would be a big plus.

When you come to think about it, our skin is marvellous stuff which we all take for granted. We evolved millions of years ago, from creatures that lived in damp conditions and were covered with scales. The difficulties arise when you move into the open air and the scales dry out and start to crack. Our skin has developed ways in which it can cope with this. The scales have become microscopic, the under layers of the skin have glands that secrete a greasy material onto the surface (much hated by teenagers) and some of the scales have been modified into hair. If you ever see one of the pictures of a hair you will see that it all looks scaley. Skin also has clever abilities to darken in sunlight and thicken up with hard wear.

Our modern lifestyle is not very kind to skin. We live in centrally heated houses which of course dries it out. We are constantly washing, using soaps and shampoos etc that dissolve out all the grease and we then apply lots of foreign chemicals which cause reactions.

What advice can I give you about your skin?

When you wash use as little soap, bubble bath etc etc as possible. Certainly with small children the use of soap is rarely necessary and frequently causes dry cracked skin. Try to use as few chemicals as you can on the skin. Even things such as nut oils can easily cause allergies. Finally if you are out in strong sunlight do cover up and if you will insist on going to Ibiza and lying all day in the sun do slap on lots of suncream.

John Schofield