Scientists say the way your skin wrinkles in water could reveal serious health problems
The skin on your fingertips and toes shrivels up after being soaked in water, and this response can tell you more than you might think.
It’s one of our body’s more mysterious reactions — after a few minutes in the bath or the swimming pool, the skin on your fingers and toes will start to wrinkle.
As a guide, it takes about 3.5 minutes in warm water at 104°F for your fingertips to start wrinkling. In colder water at 68°F, it’s more like 10 minutes. Looking for maximum wrinklage? You’ll want to soak for at least 30 minutes.
It’s a standard reaction across all humans, and evolutionary experts have suggested that it may have evolved to help humans grip in wet conditions, such as walking on submerged rocks and foraging for shellfish.
Experimental evidence shows that wrinkles do indeed increase friction — and therefore grip — between wrinkled skin and wet objects.
What’s interesting is that the precise mechanism causing the wrinkling involves the nervous system, meaning it’s a neurological reaction to being submerged in water. Our bodies actively respond to the situation — and that means our wrinkle response can give us clues about certain illnesses.
How your skin wrinkles can identify health conditions
Because of the complex way in which wrinkling occurs, doctors have noticed that wrinkles take longer to form in people with certain skin conditions, such as psoriasis and vitiligo.
Meanwhile, people with type 2 diabetes sometimes show markedly reduced wrinkling, and the same has been observed in some people with heart failure.
On the other hand, patients with cystic fibrosis can experience excessive wrinkling of both palms and fingers — and this effect has even been noted in people who are genetic carriers of the disease.
Uneven wrinkling between hands has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, potentially indicating that the sympathetic nervous system is not functioning properly on one side of the body.
Please note, this article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you notice anything unusual about the way your skin wrinkles, it’s a good idea to mention it to a qualified healthcare provider.
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