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In order to understand what causes ichthyoses, it is necessary to understand how normal skin functions and how it is renewed. The skin's primary function is to protect the body – to keep the outside out and the inside in. This barrier function itself has many components, which include a barrier to excessive loss of body fluids or uptake of noxious chemicals in contact with the skin (the permeability barrier), as well as to provide a chemical and mechanical shield against invasion by microorganisms (viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc.), and protection against mechanical injury and injury from ultraviolet light, oxidative injury and many other stressors.