- published: 06 Apr 2016
- views: 3503
Skin pack, or skin packaging, is a type of carded packaging where a product (or products) is placed on a piece of paperboard, and a thin sheet of transparent plastic is placed over the product and paperboard.
The printed paperboard usually has a heat-seal coating. The plastic film (LDPE, PVC, ionomer, etc.) is softened by heat and draped over the product on the card. Vacuum is sometimes used to assist a firm fit. The film bonds to the heat-seal coating on the paperboard. The skin-packed piece then may need to be cut into individual units.
Skin packaging somewhat resembles a blister pack, with the major difference being that the plastic surrounding the product is formed over the product, instead of being pre-formed.
Skin is the soft outer covering of vertebrates. Other animal coverings such as the arthropod exoskeleton or the seashell have different developmental origin, structure and chemical composition. The adjective cutaneous means "of the skin" (from Latin cutis, skin). In mammals, the skin is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of ectodermal tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs. Skin of a different nature exists in amphibians, reptiles, and birds. All mammals have some hair on their skin, even marine mammals which appear to be hairless. The skin is one of the most important parts of the body because it interfaces with the environment and is the first line of defense from external factors. For example, the skin plays a key role in protecting the body against pathogens and excessive water loss. Its other functions are insulation, temperature regulation, sensation, and the production of vitamin D folates. Severely damaged skin may heal by forming scar tissue. This is sometimes discoloured and depigmented. The thickness of skin also varies from location to location on an organism. In humans for example, the skin located under the eyes and around the eyelids is the thinnest skin in the body at 0.5 mm thick, and is one of the first areas to show signs of aging such as "crows feet" and wrinkles. The skin on the palms and the soles of the feet is 4 mm thick and the thickest skin in the body.