Dermatologists Southampton

Subcutaneous Layer

The Subcutaneous layer, which is made up of subcutaneous tissue, is the deepest layer of the skin and consists mainly of fat cells known as adipose.  These fat cells act as shock absorbers and protect the body from mechanical trauma.  They also work as heat insulators and help to keep body temperatures stable.

The loss of this layer causes facial sagging and is responsible for the formation of the deep wrinkles especially associated with old age and the aging process .

An over developed subcutaneous layer leads to obesity but on the other end of the scale, wasting of the subcutaneous layer will cause skin wrinkling, sagging and premature aging.

You need your skin to be padded with sufficient fat pads in the subcutaneous layer to keep it plumped up and young looking.

Diagram Showing the Three Layers of the Skin

The epidermis, the dermis and the subcutaneous layer:

Skin Model Video

This video contains more information on the three layers of the skin - the epidermis, the dermis and the subcutaneous layer.

The skin video is quite slow loading so press play, then pause it and let it load fully and it should play straight through without stopping.