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Why your skin gets wrinkly in water

The Skin

Then

There is also another possible explanation. When your hands and feet are submerged in water, they are waterlogged, which means they are completely saturated with water. As the epidermis, the skin’s outermost layer, begins to swell, it pulls on live skin beneath. Whereas the surface layer is dead, the deeper layers are firmly attached to fibers in your skin and do not swell. Thus, the swelling of the outer layers and the pulling in of deeper layers are what causes the wrinkles in your fingers and toes.

Thirdly

Secondly

How does the brain signal the wrinkles to form? The autonomic nervous system, which is in charge of involuntary reactions like breathing and heart rate, sends signals to the blood vessels below the skin to contract. The restricted blood blow and the resulting loss of volume in each finger cause the skin to shrink inward, forming the wrinkles.

In the past, scientists have thought that the wrinkly fingers and toes were caused by osmosis, the movement of water, into the dry outer layers of the skin. However, after researchers realized that patients with fingertip nerve damage did not get the same wrinkly effects, it became clear that the wrinkling of the skin was not due to osmosis but due to the nervous system.

Firstly

Have you ever stayed in water for so long that your fingers and toes got wrinkly? Have you ever wondered why that happens? And why do only some parts of your skin get wrinkly, while other parts stay smooth?

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