"WHY OUR HANDS GET 'WRINKLES' IN WATER? " most convoluted Question!

If you've ever spend away your day with hours in a hot-tub, you might have asked yourself, “Why do my hands look like I’m 90 years old when they’re in the water?”

wrinkles after dipping hands in water

The full explanation of how and why our fingers wrinkle in wet environments is still the subject of some debate. What we know is that the physiological mechanisms causing this phenomenon, wrinkles are the result of our veins constricting (vasoconstriction) in your hands and feet. One might notice this occurs even in warm water, when we otherwise would assume blood vessels should dilate instead of constrict. This suggests an evolutionary benefit of wrinkling hands. Researchers recently demonstrated this by two studies, shows that wrinkled fingers provide us with better grip in wet environments. It is totally physiological process a response to hold better grip in water, an marvelous effect of evolution.

To better understand what’s going on with our dish-pan-hands, let’s take a closer look at the anatomy and physiology involved.

It was once widely reported that water-immersion wrinkling was the result of osmosis. Water being pulled into dead skin cells (keratin) on our epidermis would cause them to swell. The swollen outer layer of skin, still tightly attached to the layers beneath, would then wrinkle due to the increased surface area. A quick Google search will show you this idea is still widely circulated, even by some otherwise reputable sources.

While it might have some minor role, we now know osmosis resulting in skin swelling is not the main cause of finger wrinkling for several reasons. The first is that only fingers, toes and the bottoms of your feet tend to wrinkle when wet. If osmosis was the reason, all parts of your skin would wrinkle in response to wetness. Some have suggested it’s because the outer layer of the skin is the thickest in these areas, as such, would be more subject to swelling and wrinkling. The problem is that measurements have shown a decrease in finger volume when wrinkled, not an increase.
The most demanding evidence that osmosis is not the cause of finger wrinkling is that if you cut the sympathetic nerve fibers (those that respond to your fight or flight response) to a person’s fingers, they will no longer wrinkle in water.