Epidermis

Dictionary of Environmental Health

The outer layer of SKIN that covers the body.

It comprises four layers being the ‘stratum corneum’, or horny outer layer, the ‘stratum lucidium’, or clear layer, the ‘stratum granulosum’, an intermediate layer between the fourth and second layers and the ‘Malpigian layer’. The last itself comprises two layers being respectively the ‘stratum spinosum’ or prickly cell layer and the ‘stratum basale’.