Wrinkled Tips Of The Fingers - What Causes A Person's Fingers To Be Perpetually Wrinkled?

A lot of us have fond memories of playing in the bath as kids, and the way our little fingertips would end up being all wrinkled. Now as grown-ups, we are not really eager to play in the bath tub anymore. If we would like to splash around in the water, we go for a dip in a pool, or perhaps we visit the sea. If you stay in the water for a while, you once again wind up with wrinkled fingertips. What actually causes this to happen, and why does it happen only to your fingers and your toes?

What Does Science Have To Say?

For years, individuals have reasoned that when your hands and/or feet are immersed in water for an extended period of time, some water is absorbed into the outer layers of the skin. It was thought that this causes the tips of your fingers and toes to swell up. If this was the case, you would in actual fact wind up with wrinkled fingertips for the reason that consistent swelling would be blocked on account of connective tissues.

Some people feel it has nothing at all to do with fluid getting into the skin, but instead, they believe the wrinkles are due to temperature differences. After all, high temperature causes things to expand, while coldness causes things to contract. Again, expansion or contraction wouldn't be uniform owing to the underlying connective tissues.

The Million Dollar Question

Whether the above speculations are correct or not is open for debate. Nevertheless, there is something that has had researchers perplexed since the mid 1930s. Fingertip wrinkling Fails To occur with individuals who have nerve damage in their toes or fingers. Even with nerve damage, water would certainly still be able to enter your epidermis, and temperature fluctuations would still result in expansion and contraction.

The Evolutionary Theory

Mark Changizi, an evolutionary neurobiologist from Idaho in the US put forth yet another theory following research which he and his associates conducted in 2011. Simply speaking, the study showed that wrinkled tips of your fingers enhance a person's grip in wet conditions. This can be compared to the treads of wheels - smooth tires allow remarkable grip on dry roads, but minimal grip on wet roads.

Wrinkly Fingertips And Your Health

There are a variety of theories which suggest that certain health factors may also cause the tips of your fingers to be perpetually wrinkled, but it's worth mentioning that these theories lack reliable evidence. Despite too little evidence, it has been observed though that consistently puckered fingertips are prevalent among individuals that suffer from an underactive thyroid gland.

Wrinkly Fingertips And Skin Skin Lotions

The great majority of people that frequently have wrinkly fingertips find that a good skin moisturizer can be very effective at stopping this. Nevertheless, it's not unusual for certain moisturizers to make the wrinkling a whole lot worse. If this happens, it's probably because your skin is susceptible to a number of chemical compounds in the moisturizer you are using, taking into account that many name brand moisturizers include a wide range of chemicals. Before giving up on moisturizers, experiment with a good "all-natural" one for 2 weeks or so to see whether there is any improvement.