The book, The Frontiersmen, crossed my mind as I proceeded with my task. Today was the first day of dissection, Betty was lying face down (prone position) and our task was to dissect the muscles of the dorsal chest.
Studying a human cadaver was not new to me, but that cadaver had already been dissected (the purpose of this course), and so the question crossing my mind was, could I put scalpel to skin and make the cut?
I didn't volunteer in our group, I just picked up the scalpel and made the midsagittal cut (down the middle of the back) from the back of the head to the sacrum (bone between the hips). It was actually fairly easy, the new blade was very sharp and the cut was made.
Our group then sectioned the skin into large squares and proceeded to remove the skin-yes, we were skinning a human.
And that is where I began to think of Eckert's book. In the course of his narrative, he writes about when both sides of the war, between white man and native, human prisoners were skinned alive.
This was indeed a very painful way to go. For you see, the human skin is attached to the underlying body tissue by very tough connective fibers and this makes the task of removing the skin very hard.
Unlike skinning a deer, where the skin literally "unzips" off with a pull, the human skin is attached very strongly to the body. This fibrous connective tissue can be seen running from the dermal layer of the skin, through the hypodermal layer to the layers underneath. Then there is a connective tissue call fascia that seems to cover everything in the body holding the hypodermis to the body.
Let's just say that it takes a lot of pulling, and that is defined as a lot of pulling.
Now image you are alive and undergoing this. I shudder when I think of it.
And yes, while you are doing this task (on a cadaver, not a living person), you mind tends to wonder.
The human skin or integument, consists of three basic layers. The epidermis, the part you can see, the dermis just under it, and finally, deepest, is the hypodermis.
The main job of the epidermis is to protect you from your environment, the dermis is the actual living skin (epi means upon) and the hypodermis (hypo=down,meaning down; under dermis in this case) is the padding layer.
Your sense of touch, pain etc. are located in the dermis, along with your blood vessels, sweat and oil glands. Your hair grows out of the dermis, while the hair follicle is actually part of the epidermis, it is located in the dermis. The main business of the skin is located here.
The hypodermis is mostly adipose-fat. The function of subcutaneous fat is to provide energy storage, padding and insulation. Elderly people lose this layer in their later years, resulting in the complaint, "Its cold in here!" and frequent bruising of the arms and legs.
The reason skin is attached so strongly is to make sure it stays in place. You don't want it sliding around you know. Most everyone knows what a "strawberry" is when they slide on the ground. That wonderful friction burn on the skin, because the skin won't slide with you.
But, where the skin must bend, elbows, knees, fingers, the skin will slide-so you can bend those joints!
So, we proceeded to remove the skin from Betty's back, one piece at a time. What we saw underneath I'll tell you next time.
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