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The skin over the
fingers owes much of its flexibility to the arrangement of deeper tissues
overlaying the joints...
...while the folds
in the thick skin of the palms allow the hands to open and close freely.
Skin furrows are most obvious over the joints,
where they correspond with folds in the deeper layers of the skin caused
by joint movements. The lines on the back of the hand are quite faint,
and cross each other at various angles.
There are also skin lines that are normally invisible
but become apparent in certain rare pigmentation disorders (see page 29).
The lines on the palms of the hand and the fingers (and on the soles of
the feet) are fine but very distinct, making a series of parallel curves
and forming patterns which are unique to each individual ('fingerprints').
These are caused by the peculiar arrangement of the deeper parts of the
skin. The pores of the sweat glands open on the ridges of these patterns.
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Everyone carries
complex and unique skin patterns on their fingertips.
On the face there may be many deeper wrinkles,
particularly around the eyes. These become more marked with age and are
significantly deepened by sun exposure and smoking.
In skin heavily affected by the sun, patterns
emerge, both coarse and fine.
When we look at skin under a microscope it looks
almost like a moon landscape, with hairs growing out of it. The patterns
are more obvious and flakes of dead skin can be seen.
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