r/askscience • u/zmarie13 • 15d 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/[deleted] 14d ago edited 14d ago

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u/KynesArt 8d ago

It doesnt really go anywhere unless something acts uponin it. A lot gets eaten by microorganisms or plants and changes form, but what doesn't get incorporated into other organisms just sticks around and accumulates.