Why Do We Get Pruney Fingers?

By: Judy Lee

Something many people may notice after a long shower or hanging out at the pool all day is getting pruney fingers. Although it’s very common for people to get pruney fingers, not a lot of people know the reason behind this occurrence. The leading cause of pruney fingers is because our nervous system sends a message to our brain to shrink our blood vessels when we get in contact with water. Our body does this by sending the blood away from the area, decreasing the overall size of the vessel. The shrinked size of the vessel leaves the skin leftover and creates wrinkles as the skin overlaps one another. This happens for a number of reasons, however, one of the common reasons is because this is our body’s way of preserving body heat. By shrinking the blood vessels, the blood gets redirected to our organs and helps maintain our core temperature. Additionally, a few results have shown that pruney fingers come as a result of our body going through an evolutionary process. It’s believed that the wrinkles from pruney fingers help us grip onto surfaces better, even when it’s wet. Overall, there are many different factors that play into our body reacting to water and forming wrinkles on our hands and feet, but they’re mostly all our body’s way of meeting certain needs and responding to different conditions.