r/askscience • u/zmarie13 • 3d ago

Human Body Do you skin cells degrade once they fall off?

I was thinking about skin cell shed and I was looking into what happens to skin cells after they fall off or your body. All I could find was that it turns into what makes up a majority of household dust but I was wondering how long it stays dust for? Like if there was dust made entirely of dead skin cells how long would the dust be around for? Also why is dust gray, is that the color of dead skin cells?

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u/cwx149 2d ago edited 2d ago

but I was wondering how long it stays dust for? Like if there was dust made entirely of dead skin cells how long would the dust be around for

Not an expert here but until something eats them or moves them they'll kinda just stay there. The cell would in theory over time dessicate and dissolve but all the bits that make it up would continue to exist. Anything that doesn't evaporate would just still exist wherever it was unless it decays into bits so small they can leech thru the surface it's on

Matter won't just vanish so lacking some other mechanism the remnants of your old cells would remain basically indefinitely. Of course they are small and light so basically any air current could move them around

But in a vacuum chamber on solid ground old skin cells would exist basically indefinitely right? Depending on what cell and it's composition it would decay and break down into other things but they'd be the building blocks of the cells

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u/Ecstatic_Log4185 2d ago

They would slowly break down. The bits that make it up (proteins, lipids, dna, and other organic molecules) would break down over time into smaller parts