Everyone loves to take a nice bath every now and then. However, what I don’t love, is how my fingers suddenly age 60+ years when I stay in the water for too long. Obviously, I know my fingers are not disintegrating from soaking in the water for too long but it never occurred to me to even look up what the real cause was. I guess I accept a lot of stuff without ever asking why. Seems like this class is helping me address all of the things I just accepted to be true.

Scientists have decided that our fingers prune because it allows us to grip things better. Our body understands that when our hands are wet, it becomes harder to hold on to something seeing as everything becomes slippery. Therefore, we have adapted to pruney finger and toes.

Another theory is that the epidermis is made up of the protein keratin. Most of the dead keratin cells are great at absorbing water. The cells absorb the water and swell to a larger size. However, since the cells get bigger but are still confined to the same surface area, they get all shriveled up. To be honest though, this explanation seems a lot more complicated than the first one. The way we were taught causes me to believe that the more complicated answer is the right answer even though they might both be contributing factors.

You might be asking, “why only our hands and feet?” Well, in terms of the first explanation, it is clear. The rest of our body simply doesn’t need to grip anything. Our feet grip the floor to prevent us from falling while our hands grip what we’re holding to make sure that we don’t drop anything. Now, in terms of the second explanation, it gets a little more complicated. It is clear that we use our hands and feet the most. And, have you ever poked yourself in the palm with a needle? It does’t hurt as badly as it does on your arm. This is because our epidermis is much thicker in our hands and feet. This means more keratin cells which, in turn, means more dead keratin cells. With more keratin cells, it is easier to see the effects of cell expansion.

To read more click here. 

I hope I satisfied some of the curiosities my classmates had. Next time your fingers prune up it’ll be up to you to decide which reason you believe to be true. 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-our-fingers-and-toes-wrinkle-during-a-bath/

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/information/anatomy/skin-wrinkly-in-water.htm