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Why do fingers wrinkle after a shower? Why does water wrinkle the skin on my fingers? Prolonged skin contact with water and its health hazards

No matter how funny it sounds, but wrinkling your fingers and unraveling what lies behind this feature is a serious science.

If you have spent a lot of time in the pool, in the sea or in a relaxing hot bath, you are probably familiar with the phenomenon of wrinkled fingers. Believe it or not, scientists have been struggling to solve this phenomenon for decades, trying to figure out why the fingers and sometimes the toes wrinkle after a long stay in the water.

Is the skin saturated with water?

One of the most common theories is that the skin is heavily saturated with water. According to the Library of Congress ( US National Library), the epidermis or outer layer of the skin, is made up of dead keratin cells that absorb moisture when immersed in water for extended periods. The absorption of moisture causes the cells to swell and the outer layer of the skin to expand, but because these are connected to the lower layers of the non-expandable skin tissue, the outer layer of the skin shrinks to compensate for its increased surface area. Something like this happens when you try to put a huge sheet on a double mattress - the extra material for lack of space, unevenly bunches into heaps on the surface.

However, this phenomenon only affects the fingers and toes - why isn't your whole body shrinking?
Scientists say this is because our hands and feet have the thickest epidermis on the body and, accordingly, they have more keratin cells that absorb water. By the way, your nails also contain keratin, which is why after a bath, or after you wash the dishes, they become softer than usual.

What is wrinkling for?

The problem with the above hypothesis is that it does not take into account the fact that fingers and toes do not wrinkle if their nerve endings have been damaged, as a result of injury, or, for example, as a result of complications in diabetes mellitus. This could be explained by another theory, which suggests that the wrinkling effect is not the result of saturation of the skin with water, but rather it is a reaction of the central nervous system - “ classic mechanical problem", As the biomechanical engineer of Columbia University, Ph.D. called it in one of his interviews Xi Chen.

The theory of mechanics is based on the concept of vasoconstriction - the narrowing of blood vessels. Basically, when the fingers are immersed in hot or cold water, the nerve endings send signals that cause the blood vessels to contract and the tissue under the skin to contract. This, in turn, causes the outer layer of the skin to wrinkle, causing the skin to wrinkle.

However, recent research suggests there is another version of finger wrinkling. Neurobiologist Mark Changizi and his team from 2AI Labs, Boise, Idaho are working to prove their theory. According to their theory, toe puckering is not the result of dermatological quirks, but rather the genetic equivalent of rain protectors - functional grooves on car tires and shoes that provide better grip in wet weather. Changizi believes that these so-called “protectors” on the hands and feet have been embedded in DNA over the centuries to improve the ability of our ancestors to adhere to various surfaces.

« Our wrinkling fingers are the most important trait that we inherited from our primate ancestors.», - wrote Changizi in his article. " At the moment when our primate ancestors had nails instead of claws on their fingers, "protectors" became their necessary replacement.».

In support of this theory, Changizi and his team analyzed 28 photographs of wrinkled fingers. In all 28 samples, the wrinkles formed vertical channels that serve to drain water from the fingertips.

« Gripping a wet surface with your hand without the danger of aquaplaning requires a way to effectively remove water between the skin and the surface you are trying to grasp."- he explained. " As you know, the best way to quickly move water is canals».

More research needs to be done to prove the hypothesis Changizi, but he is already working on the following studies. The list of next tasks is to verify that wrinkling contributes to better grip, and to check if mammals in humid climates are more likely to wrinkle their fingers than mammals in dry habitats.

If the theory is confirmed, then we can use the property of wrinkled toes to improve existing technologies for making treads for car tires and shoes.

« This is far from an annoying misunderstanding of nature.", - wrote Mark Changizi, « wrinkling fingers is another testament to excellence in biology».

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Image copyright Getty Images

Have you ever wondered why our skin wrinkles only on our fingers in water? The reviewer is investigating possible answers to this question.

Hairless areas of the skin react in a special way to water. Unlike other parts of the body, the skin on the fingers, toes, palms and feet becomes wrinkled after being in water. This usually takes five minutes.

But why does this phenomenon affect only these areas of the skin?

There is an opinion that this is the result of a biochemical reaction, an osmotic process in which certain substances are "washed out" of the skin, and it is deformed.

However, scientists already knew a century ago that this curious reaction was not a simple reflex or the result of osmosis.

Surgeons have noticed that if certain nerves are damaged in the fingers, then the skin on them does not wrinkle.

Thus, bumps on the fingers are a sign that the nervous system is intact.

Scientists have even suggested using this response to test how well patients' sympathetic nervous systems function when they are not responding to other stimuli.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Usually, the skin begins to wrinkle after about five minutes in water.

The scientific community has already reached a consensus on all these issues. Nevertheless, the debate about the origin of this reaction and whether it is the result of adaptation is still ongoing.

Neuroscientist Mark Changizi of the 2AI Labs research laboratory is confident that this is the result of adaptation. Take a tire tread as an example.

On dry roads, smooth tires provide the best grip. This is why racing cars tend to use non-grooved tires. However, when it rains, tread tires are irreplaceable.

Thus, fingers with wrinkles and bumps are best at gripping both dry and wet objects.

In 2011, Changizi and colleagues found evidence that wrinkled toes act as a kind of protector.

However, it is very difficult to prove that a particular biological feature is the result of adaptation, and it can be even more difficult to determine the causes of its occurrence. Scientists can only look for clues and make assumptions about what is the result of adaptation and what is not.

In 2011, Changizi and his colleagues found evidence that wrinkles on the fingers act as a kind of protector.

In other words, these wrinkles resulting from water exposure can be compared to a river basin, where many small streams merge into larger channels that flow into a river channel, or with a tree, where small twigs grow on large branches, which in turn , originate in the trunk.

At the same time, land areas between canals and streams are not interconnected.

To test whether the wrinkled toes of primates have a structure similar to a river basin, Changizi and his colleagues analyzed photos of 28 fingers belonging to different people.

They did find that these diverging and non-intersecting grooves resemble a river network.

Scientists also came to the conclusion that the location of the folds obeys a certain logic. The river collects water, while the grooves in the wrinkled finger are designed to divert it.

"When you press the pad of your finger on a wet surface, the water flows down the channels, ensuring optimal contact of the finger with the surface," the scientists write.

One more fact should be taken into account: wrinkles appear only after five minutes of continuous contact with water.

Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Why do we need these bumps and wrinkles?

This means that to start this process, accidental contact with water is not enough, and this feature of the body becomes useful only in rainy or wet weather.

In addition, the reaction is much faster in fresh water than in salt water. This may indicate the conditions in which we evolved into primates.

It is possible that the irregularities on the fingers are not directly related to the evolutionary processes associated with improving grip, but fingers with wrinkles are still better at this task.

For example, a study by British neuroscientists in 2013 showed that bumps on the pads of the fingers help to hold wet objects more tightly.

During the experiment, 20 people moved 45 objects of various sizes - glass balls and fishing weights - from one container to another.

Changizi believes that bumps on the skin are beneficial for keeping the body in balance

In some cases, subjects were dry and participants' fingers were smooth or wrinkled. In others, objects were submerged in water.

Scientists found that participants with wrinkled fingers moved objects faster underwater, and dry objects at the same speed as the rest.

However, a similar study by German scientists in 2014 showed the opposite.

The researchers asked 40 people to move 52 glass marbles and dice of various sizes and weights from one container to another.

All participants - with both smooth and wrinkled fingers - moved dry and wet objects and showed approximately the same results.

A group of Taiwanese researchers conducted a series of their own experiments with a 24-year-old man.

They measured the friction of the skin of his fingers in contact with a flat surface in a smooth and wrinkled state, as well as the strength of his hands when sliding on a bar. They also evaluated the subject's ability to compress the spring.

Oddly enough, they found that all exercises performed worse when the skin on the fingers was wrinkled.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The appearance of bumps on the skin under the influence of water is a natural process

What follows from this? Regardless of whether the uneven skin of the hands is a product of evolution or not, laboratory conditions are unlikely to be suitable for such tests.

Changizi believes that the bumps on the skin are needed to maintain the body in balance, and not for manipulating small objects.

"To do a really revealing experiment, you need to ask participants to grab onto trees or heavier objects, not small balls," he says.

The expert notes that when moving balls between containers, there is no risk of slipping through the water.

At the same time, it is important to assess the effect of skin irregularities on a person's physical activity, and not on his sleight of hand.

What experiment does he think is ideal? For example, you can involve in the study parkourists - urban acrobats who could show their tricks with different skin conditions and in different weather conditions.

"Of course, you have to take care of their safety," he adds.

Why does water create wrinkles on my fingers?

We have all come across such a phenomenon when we spend a lot of time under water (it doesn't matter if we swam in the river or took too long to hand wash in the bathroom), fingers, in particular, their pads, wrinkle, wrinkle, some do not like it very much, causes psychological inconvenience, otherwise - there is no harm, no threat, no cause for concern that this may result in some kind of disease. So

Dermatologists explain this simply: when our skin is in water for a long time (especially hot), the top layer absorbs water, the skin becomes soaked, and the protective surface, the so-called sebum, disappears and the skin wrinkles. Water comes out from the inside out, the membranes in the cells open, “inner water” covers the surface of the skin of the finger, and the lower layer of the skin folds into folds like this, as if protecting from too much water, not letting it go further. A logical question arises: if the upper layer of the skin - the epidermis, is able to absorb water, then why do we not grow, but, on the contrary, shrink?

This is explained by the fact that the body becomes dehydrated when oils are washed off from it. Cells that have membranes that are only half permeable, they give up internal water, cannot absorb it from the outside. After a long stay, the oil leaves, the membranes open, the water leaves, and wrinkles are formed on the surface, on the fingertips. It should also be noted that wrinkles on the fingers, toes, and palms appear faster than all other parts of the body, because they have more sebaceous glands, which replenish the reserves of the necessary protective oil. By the way, there are great tips for hand care in our article ““.

Others say that water shrinks tiny blood vessels and wrinkles the skin on your fingers. There is also a version that it is the nervous system that does this so that excess water does not seep inside.

Neuroscientists (Americans) generally argue that this is a genetic predisposition, such an evolutionarily acquired ability, that we have inherited it from monkeys (if our ancestors were at all). It was noticed that it is easier to hold something with wet hands, to grab onto something. On the other hand, the wrinkled fingers helped to grip and make good contact with various surfaces. They concluded (looking at some kind of photo evidence) that the wrinkles on the pads of the fingers and toes were located vertically, which allowed the water to drain quickly, and this was necessary to grab onto something wet, for this the hands had to make dry and quickly, for this folds and served. They also proved that such wrinkles on wet fingers will not appear if the nerves on those fingers are cut, which means that the wrinkling is a reaction of the central nervous system.

Supposedly, since nature has come up with such a feature, it means that it is needed for something, because everything in our body is provided for.

How and why do wrinkles appear?

The appearance and properties of the skin change throughout a person's life. Much affects the skin, including external factors, and with age, the layer of subcutaneous fat becomes thinner, moisture becomes less and less, so the face looks saggy, eyes are faded, cheekbones stand out. Sometimes, on the contrary, a double chin appears, folds of fat, the belly increases. To avoid this, observe the diet, you can fix this with the help of exercises, sports and massage. Wrinkles are not always a direct indication of old age. Sometimes these are just mimic wrinkles, which are more often formed on the face of emotional people, calm and melancholic ones do not so often show the depth and strength of their feelings on their face, so early wrinkles do not threaten them. If you are used to raising your eyebrows, then horizontal lines will appear on the forehead, which are often clearly visible. The folds of the nasolabial triangle stand out when you smile if you wrinkle your nose, but there will be wrinkles there, and so on.

As the outer layers of the skin age, they lose color and elasticity, dry out, thinner, and often flake off. Take care of her, protect her from harmful and aggressive influences, moisturize, do not forget to feed her with vitamins, do massages and masks that prevent the appearance of double chins, and rest more.

One little cleansing trick. Most people wipe their face from top to bottom, from eyes to lips. This is wrong, you are stretching the skin, you need to do exactly the opposite - from lips to eyes. Sometimes overuse and overuse of cosmetics leads to early wrinkles. Even if the cosmetics are expensive, of high quality and good, you still need to let the skin breathe and rest from it, because now there are harmful carcinogenic substances almost everywhere. Use milk to wash or remove makeup, it washes off makeup well and moisturizes the skin. Do not wipe your face dry, walk lightly. By the way, avoid walking under the scorching sun in the heat, ultraviolet light can also age you for a couple of three years, because it penetrates the dermis, tightening it.

What can cause wrinkles?

However, this is not the only reason the skin of the hands can wrinkle. Cold also affects the health of our skin, only this time negatively. At first, the hands just get cold, but at this time microcracks, dryness, some tightness appear, then redness and pain. For hand care in winter, all kinds of products have long been developed: creams, ointments, masks, which contain oils and vitamins that restore the protective layer of the skin. It is useful to use scrubs before bed to remove dead cells, dirt, unclog pores, etc., masks nourish and protect the skin.

Wrinkles are generally a sign of natural aging, which is what women are most afraid of. This is influenced by a lot: predisposition, heredity, habitat, emotional, psychological, moral state of a woman, her state of health, her work (if, for example, there is a lot of physical activity, then exhaustion will affect earlier). The type of the skin itself is also important, it is noticed that the dry type is more prone to early aging, since it is less protected from environmental influences, and because of the smaller number of glands and their work. Such skin especially needs hydration and protection, including from the loss of excess moisture.

There is such a thing as "marbled skin", this is a separate disease, familiar to many women at a certain age. The disease occurs due to the disturbed work of the blood vessels, and they are often visible to the naked eye. Such skin is in vital need of constant moisturizing and care, as well as protective cosmetics that will protect it from the harmful effects that marbled skin cannot resist, and reacts painfully to them. A marble pattern on the skin appears after severe and severe hypothermia, the skin looks bluish, covered with a mesh. Most often it spreads to exposed areas of the skin, face and hands. But if you quickly navigate, moisturize and warm the skin after a negative impact, the appearance of "marble" can disappear.

In general, there are several types of marbled leather:

  • thermal (usually found in old people, after warm exposure, excreted by hyperpigmentation),
  • cold (the same, only affected by the cold, more often - elbows and knees, bends of any limbs),
  • tree-like (bluish spots, a pattern of veins that are clearly visible through the skin). This type may indicate the presence of a more serious disease, for example, with tuberculosis, pathological changes in the walls of blood vessels, rheumatism, with advanced syphilis. It should be noted that this is a disease that requires close attention and capital treatment, and not a cosmetic problem.

In addition to temperature exposure, similar skin problems in humans can arise due to chronic overwork (whether physical or mental), problems with the endocrine system, infections, trauma, hormones. As a preventive medicine, a full, 10-hour sleep is recommended, nutrition rich in vitamins and minerals, a lot of fresh air, maybe a little sea;).

Video: Anti-wrinkle skin care

Wrinkles on the pads of the fingers tell a lot about a person and his health. The beauty of hands fades over the years. The formation of wrinkles on the hands and fingertips is not only a sign of aging.

Reasons for the appearance

Take a closer look at your fingertips. Are there wrinkles or dryness? Wrinkles on the fingers: causes of the problem:

Clinical picture

What doctors say about wrinkles

Doctor of Medical Sciences, plastic surgeon Morozov E.A .:

I have been doing plastic surgery for many years. Many famous personalities passed through me who wanted to look younger. Currently, plastic surgery is losing its relevance because science does not stand still, there are more and more new methods for rejuvenating the body, and some of them are quite effective. If you do not want or do not have the opportunity to resort to plastic surgery, I will recommend an equally effective, but most budgetary alternative.

For more than 1 year, there has been a miracle drug for skin rejuvenation NOVASKIN on the European market, which can be obtained IS FREE... In terms of effectiveness, it is several times superior to Botox injections, not to mention all sorts of creams. It is easy to use and you will see its most important action instantly. Without exaggeration, I will say that fine and deep wrinkles, bags under the eyes disappear almost immediately. Thanks to the intracellular effect, the skin is fully restored, regenerated, the changes are simply colossal.

Learn more >>

Preventive actions

  • Wear gloves in cold temperatures. Already at 8 degrees Celsius, you should think about protection from the cold. Moisturizing is the surest way to preserve your skin.
  • Apply sunscreen in summer. The sun at lunchtime is bad for the whole body.
  • Dryness requires moisturizing even after contact with water.
  • Use gloves when cleaning.
  • Do masks and hand baths.
  • Hand massage will help normalize blood circulation and avoid wrinkles. The skin and nails will be healthier.
  • Review your diet. It is important to eat in a balanced way. Include foods that have nail and skin health benefits.
  • Drink vitamins A and E to prevent wrinkles.



Skin care

Wrinkles on the fingers will help to remove masks, baths and creams prepared by yourself.

Regular treatments will moisturize and nourish your skin.

Several proven and favorite recipes especially for you.

Oil mask

A mask of several oils will help to transform and smooth the skin, remove wrinkles and creases. Buy cotton gloves. Add a small spoonful of jojoba and avocado to the peach oil. Everything should be stirred. Warm up using a water bath before use. Apply the mask to your hands and wear gloves for 30 to 40 minutes. At the end of the procedure, remove excess oil from your hands.

Butter with cream

Take in equal parts (half a dessert spoon each) almond oil and avocado oil. Then add a couple tablespoons of cream. Warm up the composition and apply on hands. The average procedure time is up to 40 minutes. Use gloves or a towel.

Vitamin mask

You will need vitamins A and E in capsules (3 pcs.), Egg yolk, sea salt, moisturizer. Mix all ingredients. After 25 minutes, rinse with mineral water and apply the cream.

Cream with berries

Squeeze out the red currant juice, add a couple of tablespoons of sour cream. Avocado oil and jojoba oil should be added in half a dessert spoon. The cream can be used at night to remove redness, dryness, and wrinkles.



Cream with flakes

Use a blender to grind the oatmeal. Add a couple of tablespoons of honey and yolk to them. Anti-wrinkle cream is applied at any time of the day.

Starch bath

Dissolve a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch or potato starch in water. Dip your hands into the container for 20 minutes. Then wipe off and apply the cream. Baths will help eliminate cracks and dryness. Steaming with further application of the cream will smooth out wrinkles, nourish with vitamins and make it more elastic.

Potato broth bath

Boil the potatoes, and drain the water from them into a bowl. Soak your hands in it for 15 to 20 minutes and use a moisturizer.

Drawing conclusions

If you are reading these lines, we can conclude that you are still in search of a method to rejuvenate your face and get rid of wrinkles, at the sight of which you feel uncomfortable in the mirror.

We have conducted an investigation, studied a bunch of materials and, most importantly, tested most of the ways and means against wrinkles, ranging from traditional methods to the procedures that doctors have to offer. The verdict is as follows:

All funds, if they did, were only a minor temporary result. As soon as the procedures were stopped, after a few days everything came back.

The only drug that has shown significant results is NOVASKIN.

This serum is the best alternative to botox. The main feature is that NOVASKIN acts instantly, i.e. in just a few minutes you can see significant improvements!

This drug is not sold in pharmacy chains, but is funded by the Ministry of Health and distributed IS FREE... You can read reviews about NOVASKIN here.

Do not rush to resort to expensive procedures. Make effective creams and masks at home at no extra cost.

Remember, wrinkles on the pads of the fingers may indicate diabetes. Check your health.

Quite often, leaving the bath or pool, as well as returning to the shore after a long stay in sea water, we notice that the skin on the fingers and toes, and sometimes on the palms and feet entirely, becomes wrinkled. A palm with large folds of almost white color looks like the hand of a wise old man, but after a certain time everything passes by itself and disappears without a trace. Since childhood, we have become accustomed to the fact that such a phenomenon is explained by the simple phrase “the skin is steamed,” and we don’t even think about whether this is really so. Scientists have been trying to determine the cause of this phenomenon for more than a decade. And today there are several theories of the appearance of wrinkled skin on the palms and feet after contact with water. MedAboutMe will tell you which versions of skin-water interactions are considered by experts and whether such contact poses any health hazard.

This theory is the most widespread. The upper layer on the feet and palms is covered with keratin protein, which absorbs moisture during prolonged contact with it. As a result of this interaction, the epidermis expands and shrinks. Folds of various sizes appear due to the fact that the upper layer of the skin increases in size, while the lower layers remain unchanged, and the formation of wrinkles allows you to compensate for the volume of swollen tissues.

Local wrinkling of the skin is due to the fact that the epidermis on the fingers and toes, feet and palms is thicker than on the rest of the body. It contains more keratin and, accordingly, it absorbs moisture much more actively.

Skin shrinkage in water as a reflex

Back in 1935, experts noted that in people with certain lesions of the nervous system, the skin on the fingers and toes does not wrinkle after a long stay in water. Accordingly, the reason for this phenomenon may be neurological. Scientists believe that specific nerve endings are responsible for wrinkling the skin, and if they are "turned off", this phenomenon will not be observed. After such a discovery, there were even suggestions to test in a similar way the work of the sympathetic nervous system in those patients who had no reaction to other influences.

Assuming the mechanism of skin wrinkling, it remains to figure out why the body needs such a reaction. But scientists have already prepared an answer to this question by putting forward the following theory.


The most recent theory that explains the causes of skin wrinkling in water is associated with evolutionary mechanisms. According to her, our distant ancestors often had to extract from rivers and other bodies of water not only food, but also what could be useful in everyday life. Since there were no special tools yet, they did it with their bare hands. Accordingly, wrinkling of the skin on the palms and fingers greatly facilitated this task, and changing the cover on the feet made it easier to move over pitfalls and other slippery surfaces.

Thus, the creators of such an evolutionary theory argue that the wrinkling of the skin on the fingers and toes is designed to better grip wet objects. The folds that form on the skin are arranged in a special order and, like car tires, create channels for efficient drainage of fluid. To confirm this theory, researchers from the University of Newcastle conducted a study in which two groups of volunteers took part. Participants in both groups were asked to take turns to perform certain manipulations with dry and wet objects of various shapes and sizes. At the same time, volunteers from the first group did it with dry hands, and from the second group, they preliminarily held their hands in the water for half an hour. According to the results of the study, it turned out that with wrinkled hands it is much easier to pick up and hold any object, both dry and wet.

Prolonged skin contact with water and its health hazards

We will not talk about all the dangers that contact with water carries for a person's life. Let's talk about the consequences of prolonged exposure to moisture on the skin. One of the main dangers is the formation of the so-called trench foot syndrome. This disease is a cold injury that develops as a result of prolonged exposure of the legs and, in rare cases, hands in dampness at low temperatures. The main symptoms of a trench foot include:

  • pallor of the skin, a local decrease in temperature and a weakening of blood circulation;
  • pain and impaired sensitivity, muscle weakness in the fingers;
  • swelling and redness of the skin, as well as the formation of blisters and ulcers on it.

In the absence of timely treatment, a secondary infection may join the trench foot syndrome.


Hyperkeratosis is a dermatological pathology characterized by intensive division of cells of the stratum corneum and impaired desquamation. The reasons for its development can be external and internal. These include:

  • some systemic pathologies, including;
  • varicose veins and atherosclerosis obliterans;
  • vitamin deficiency and hypovitaminosis, which develops for various reasons.

One of the most vulnerable parts of the body for this pathology is the feet. The development of the disease can be provoked by:

  • wearing uncomfortable and tight shoes;
  • excessive loads on the legs (long walking, running, etc.);
  • obesity, deformity of the feet and some hereditary factors.

Regardless of the factors preceding the disease, the main reason for its development is the violation of trophism (nutrition) of the epidermis, which is the upper layer of the skin. Accelerated cell division leads to overgrowth of the epidermis, which, in turn, causes the skin to wrinkle. Later, cracks and corns may form on the feet, and if untreated, a secondary fungal infection may join.

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