Wash skin

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Adult fingers wrinkled from moisture

Wash skin is a trivial term for skin on human hands and feet that is temporarily wrinkled and swollen by the action of water. Other terms are washerwoman's hands / skin or rinsing hands / skin . This phenomenon can have several causes: prolonged exposure to humid conditions, transmission of childbirth, Costello syndrome or post mortem .

Adult foot wrinkled from moisture

Provocation in the damp

Contact with water for 30 minutes (such as bathing, swimming, working in the water, prolonged accumulation of heat and moisture, wearing moisture-proof gloves , prolonged exposure to moist, alkaline conditions) can generally produce washerwoman's hands. The soles of the feet , the tips of the fingers and toes become wrinkled, other areas of the skin hardly or not at all.

The common explanation is based on the fact that keratin-rich epithelial skin absorbs water in moisture, which causes the skin to expand. The larger area leads to wrinkles. Usually fingers and toes first form wrinkles because their skin a thicker keratin, but no hair and no sebaceous glands contributes, which protective oils (sebum) releases .

However, the process of wrinkling can only partially be traced back to maceration of the horny layer as a result of the passive influx of water into the skin due to osmosis . Autonomous nervous control of vasoconstriction is also involved. In the case of nerve injuries to the hand, the training of washerwoman's hands under moist conditions can be omitted, so that the longer immersion of the hands is also used as a clinical test in neurology .

Water therefore possibly initiates the formation of wrinkles by lowering the electrolyte concentration in the affected areas of the skin by flowing in through their numerous sweat glands. This could also affect neuronal membranes close to the vessels, which can cause the vessels to contract and thus provoke increased wrinkling. The maceration is increased after degreasing the skin, e.g. B. by washing with surfactants . With frequent or long-term maceration of the skin, toxic contact eczema can develop, e.g. B. when wearing moisture-proof gloves for a long time or the housewife eczema .

Selective advantage

The selective advantage of skin wrinkling in humid conditions is controversial.

No independent adjustment

The paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould viewed it less as an evolutionary adaptation than as a concomitant phenomenon, and warned against the compulsion to have to interpret each phenomenon as an individually beneficial one. In this context, it has been suggested that significant evolutionary changes in hand anatomy in the course of human tribal history support the formation of a fist, and the formation of washerwoman's hands may have played a subordinate role in this development process.

A small child's finger wrinkled due to moisture

Increased grip

An underlying evolutionary adaptation is supported by the fact that washerwoman's hands are only formed on special skin areas (fingertips and toes) by means of active vasoconstriction. The appearance of the parallel fingertip folds of washerwoman's hands was analogized with the profiles of tires or gullies on a slope. From this the assumption was made that they would be suitable for allowing water to drain off or displaced in order to allow a better grip.

In accordance with this idea, it could be shown experimentally that test persons with washerwoman's hands were able to move moist pieces of marble from one container to another significantly faster than those without washerwoman's hands.

No advantage in the water

The effect of the improved grip of washerwoman's hands for picking up objects under water could not be proven experimentally.

consequences

If hands or feet are kept moist for a period of several days, the hands or feet can suffer from cold and wetness , which can lead to permanent tissue damage due to fungal attack and germs.

post mortem

Even if the hands of a corpse are kept moist, washerwoman's hands develop in the manner of maceration or as a result of the ingress of water.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b H. Reh: Early postmortem course of washerwoman's skin of the fingers. In: Z Rechtsmed , Volume 92, No. 3, 1984, pp. 183-188, doi : 10.1007 / BF00200253 .
  2. ↑ Dr Karl's Homework - Skin Wrinkles in Water , January 26, 2000.
  3. ↑ a b c M. Changizi, R. Weber, R. Kotecha, J. Palazzo: Are wet-induced wrinkled fingers primate rain treads? In: Brain Behav. Evol. , Volume 77, 2011, pp. 286-290.
  4. ↑ Einar PV Wilder-Smith: Water immersion wrinkling . In: Clinical Autonomic Research . 14, No. 2, 2004, pp. 125-131. doi : 10.1007 / s10286-004-0172-4 . PMID 15095056 .
  5. ↑ a b H. Zhai, KP Whilem HL Maibach: Dermatotoxicology , 7th edition 2007, ISBN 978-0-8493-9773-8 , pp. 280-281.
  6. ↑ EPV Wilder-Smith: Water immersion wrinkling: Physiology and use as an indicator of sympathetic function. In: Clin. Autonomous. Res. , Vol. 14, 2004, pp. 125-131.
  7. ↑ G. Alvarez, J. Eurolo, P. Canales: Finger wrinkling after immersion in water . In: British Medical Journal . 281, No. 6240, 1980, pp. 586-587. doi : 10.1136 / bmj.281.6240.586-a . PMID 7427379 . PMC 1713922 (free full text).
  8. ↑ Werner J. Heppt, Claus Bachert: Practical Allergology . Edition 2, Georg Thieme Verlag, 2010. ISBN 9783131622426 . P. 75.
  9. ↑ Jörg Kleine-Tebbe, Axel Trautmann: Allergology in Clinic and Practice: Allergens - Diagnostics - Therapy. Edition 2, Georg Thieme Verlag, 2013. ISBN 9783131593528 . P. 248.
  10. ↑ Peter Fritsch: Dermatology Venerology: Basics. Clinic. Atlas. Edition 2, Springer-Verlag, 2013. ISBN 9783662065556 . P. 186.
  11. ^ SJ Gould, RC Lewontin: The spandrels of San Marco and the panglossian paradigm: A critique of the adaptationist program. (PDF) In: The Royal Society, Proceedings B , Volume 205, No. 116, September 1979, doi : 10.1098 / rspb.1979.0086 .
  12. ↑ Michael H. Morgan, David R. Carrier: Protective buttressing of the human fist and the evolution of hominin hands. (PDF) In: Journal of Experimental Biology , Volume 216, 2013, pp. 236–244, DOI (incorrectly stated): 10.1242 / jeb.075713.
  13. ^ T. Ryan Gregory: Another just-so story, this time about fists. In: Genomicron , December 21, 2012, viewed July 9, 2015.
  14. ↑ Ed Yong: pruney fingers grip better. In: Nature June 28, 2011, doi : 10.1038 / news.2011.388 .
  15. ↑ K. Kareklas, D. Nettle, TV Smulders: Water-induced finger wrinkles improve handling of wet objects. In: Biol. Lett. 2013, doi : 10.1098 / rsbl.2012.0999 .
  16. ↑ J. Haseleu, D. Omerbašić, H. Frenzel, M. Gross, GR Lewin: Water-induced finger wrinkles do not affect touch acuity or dexterity in handling wet objects. In: PLoS ONE , Volume 9, No. 1, 2014, e84949, doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0084949 .
  17. ^ W. Weber, R. Laufkötter: Stages of postmortem skin formation - results of systematic qualitative and quantitative experimental investigations. In: Z. Rechtsmed. , Volume 92, 1984, pp. 277-290, doi : 10.1007 / BF00200285 .