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How long does it take epidermal cells to travel from formation to shedding?

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skin rash caused by Lyme disease — skin disease Visible alterations in the texture of the skin, such as rashes and hives, can be indicative of serious disease. For example, one of the first signs of Lyme disease is a circular rash in a bull's-eye pattern on the skin.

The time required for epidermal cells to travel from their formation in the basal layer to their eventual shedding (desquamation) at the skin surface is estimated to be between one and three months.1

During this process, keratinocytes are formed through mitosis in the lower region of the epidermis. These cells then move peripherally through the various layers of the epidermis—the malpighian layer, the granular layer, and finally the stratum corneum—where they lose their nuclei and organelles before being shed. In healthy skin, the production of new cells and the loss of old cells are finely balanced to maintain a consistent epidermal thickness. When this balance is disrupted, such as in conditions like psoriasis, the rate of cell production often increases, causing cells to move through the epidermis more rapidly.12