skin
"The skin is like our shell. That's what people see of us first," says Elizabeth Grice, who just finished a postdoctoral fellowship in genetics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. "It's a defining feature, but it's also an important organ for human health."
"My skin is like an extremely tightly fit onesie for my muscles."
"The skin is like an elephant. It never forgets the amount of radiation it's received over a lifetime. Current estimates indicate that one adult in 90 will develop a malignant melanoma within his or her lifetime due to overexposure to ultraviolet radiation. So is a suntan really worth the risk?"
"Just like every other form of self-improvement, a healthy skin lifestyle is a commitment to performing a daily regimen consistently. Skin care is like working out; just can't just lift a weight once, or only cleanse your skin, and expect to look amazing. There are basic things you need to do daily."
"Dermalogica is known worldwide as the "professionals' choice", and is founded on the belief that skin care is like brushing your teeth...more about health than pampering or luxury!"
"But skin care is like a gym regimen- results don't happen overnight. Expect to see changes after 6 weeks of regular use."
""Don't buy that crap that skin color is a trifle. It ain't man. Skin is the largest human organ and it has all sorts of things going on with it. Its color is an integral part of the design. So don't believe skin color is like paint. It ain't. "
"Dead skin cells are like a dried-up sponge. You can rub the most expensive "moisturisers" on your face all day long, and all that happens is the sponge gets greasy. Soak the sponge in water and it puffs up soft, before being left to dry out again. That's what happens to the surface of your skin."
"Your skin cells are like that is renewed in a 28 day cycle. To make room for new, fresh skin cells, the dead skin cells have to be removed first."
"A surgical procedure that's used when skin cancer is like an iceberg. Beneath the skin, the cancerous cells cover a much larger region and there are no defined borders."
"Skin cancer is like a weed," says Michael Hadley, MD, assistant professor and specialist in dermatological surgery at University of Utah-Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City. "It's easy to pull off the top, but it's essential to get all the roots in order to stave off potential recurrence," which is not to say liquid treatments for AKs aren't effective; just to point out a biological truth."
"The analogy that the skin tissue is like a screen door is my favorite to help describe the action of nutrition (highlighting Vitamin C and Aloe Vera) - that "shuts the door to allergens" therefore lowering symptoms. Building healthy tissue is paramount in the first step of keeping the environmental allergens out of the blood stream."
"The skin tissue is like a pocket. Once filled it becomes larger. After a few minutes the serum adjusts to the area and the puffiness will diminish leaving a smooth firm outer surface."
METAMIA is a free database of analogy and metaphor. Anyone can contribute or search. The subject matter can be anything. Science is popular, but poetry is encouraged. The goal is to integrate our fluid muses with the stark literalism of a relational database. Metamia is like a girdle for your muses, a cognitive girdle.