Posted by sleepygirl on September 7, 2005, at 21:53:22
In reply to Super-Critical Science Question about Fingers!, posted by Snoozin on September 7, 2005, at 21:41:59
God help me, I did an internet search and found an answer from this guy:
Dr. Norman Goldstein, a professor of dermatology at the University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine.
Goldstein has no trouble fielding this question. He calls the phenomenon "super-hydration." Our skin cells absorb a little bit of water when we soak too long in the tub, he says. And because the skin on our palms and the bottoms of our fingers and feet are thicker than other parts of our skin, they swell more than the rest of us. Because this swelling layer of skin is connected underneath to tissue that does not swell, the skin buckles. Hence, wrinkled fingers and toes.
poster:sleepygirl
thread:552069
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050903/msgs/552072.html