or The Interesting and the Strange
A few weeks ago, I did a couple of posts about toes--specifically, pedicures. Well, now it's time to give fingers some equal time.
I read something recently about fingers that I found very interesting. It concerned the prune-like fingers you get when you've had your hands in water for a long time. Apparently if you have nerve damage to your fingers, the skin on them won't wrinkle when it gets overly wet. This knowledge has been around at least since 1936 when a journal article was published about a case involving a young man who had the nerves to some of his fingers cut but not others. And you guessed it, the ones without nerve connections didn't wrinkle when wet, but the others did.
So how does the prune-effect happen anyway? Well, I'm not sure that I understand it all, but it is something like this. We have sweat glands in our fingers. Not only does water come out of those, it also goes in. When there is extra water absorbed, they expand. The nerves sense this and tell the small arteries in the fingers to contract which results in wrinkles.
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What do you think about this world of finger news?
Stay tuned for the next in the series of strange (to me) body things, when we move on to faces.
Ew. The whole idea of edible nail polish grosses me out--but then again, I work in a medical field and have had the whole infection control and management thing pounded into my head. I don't care for long fingernails, as it makes me think of all the germs that can get trapped under them ... with as many things as we touch, I tend to discourage putting hands anywhere near my face. As you can tell, I'm not a fan of this trend!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't think this trend is going to make it here unless it's one of those teen things where they are trying to do something they know their parent won't approve of. I don't have a medical background, but the whole cleanliness thing of this bothers me.
DeleteHmmm, the edible nail polish for kids seems to fly in the face of everything that was ingrained in my sister and me. She was a nail-biter, so my parents put horrible-tasting stuff on her nails. And I was a thumb-sucker, so they tried all sorts of things to deter me from putting my thumbs in my mouth.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Kris on the germ thing. Especially now, as bacteria that are resistant to any anti-biotics are cropping up. I find I am even more aware of where I put my hands, now.
But business is business, and I'm sure someone will make some money off of this idea. However, if they want me to lick my fingers, I think I need a chocolate-flavored nail polish. Fried chicken wouldn't do it for me!
I sucked two of my fingers when I was young and I remember my mom trying everything to get me to stop. I stopped when I was ready.
DeleteYou're right. Business is business and if it makes money, they will do it. I wonder about the cultural differences and how they view this in Hong Kong. Do they have different ideas about cleanliness than we do? Some say that we are obsessed with cleanliness here and it's hurting our health because we don't build up our immune system. That may be true, but I still don't want fried chicken taste on my fingers all of the time.
I just read The Dirt Cure by Maya Shetreat-Cline, MD. Her premise does address the hyper-vigilant cleaning in households which kills beneficial bacteria, but has more to do with eating food which is grown in healthy dirt, is non-GMO, and eating meat which is raised in a healthy manner. I think she wouldn't be thrilled about the finger-licking goodness of the KFC nail polish, as she advocates more of a getting-back-to-nature and avoiding chemicals kind of a mindset. It was a thought-provoking read. We can't afford to completely adopt her suggested principles (and I'm not about to raise a goat in my backyard to offset milk prices ... ) but our gardening/composting/occasional acquisition of wild fruits is, according to her, a healthier way to eat.
DeleteI have a friend that raises goats for milk, cheese, and butter. It's fun to visit her, but it's not for me. Supposedly, the KFC polish is made of all edible, good stuff. However, I don't really know what the standards are in Hong Kong.
DeleteI have lots more to say on the cleanliness issue, but right now I'm too tired to form a coherent thought. Maybe later.
This just seems way overboard. I can't imagine sticking my fingers in my mouth because I want to lick my nails. Of course that is just me, I guess to each his own!
ReplyDeleteMore reasonable for me would be if they made nail polish that had some kind of aromatherapy smell such as mint, lilac, or chocolate. But as you say, to each their own.
DeleteI told my husband about it and he couldn't even look at the picture because the idea of it grossed him out so much. And that's someone who loves fried chicken!
ReplyDeleteI'm against anything that will make kids and much less adults think that putting their fingers in their mouths all the time is a good idea. Then they stick their fingers all over the place. How gross. Soon we won't be able to buy regular nail polish without showing ID and getting logged in somewhere because one kid will decide to just drink their mom's bottle of nail polish. I don't wear it anyway but you know that's the way society seems to be going!
The story about the missing nerve endings and no wrinkling of the skin was very interesting. I didn't know that! I guess I have all my nerves, still. Yay.
This was both interesting and good news for me. With Muscular Dystrophy there is a steadily worsening of nerve damage but I have to say my nerves are still functioning enough to result in wrinkled fingers. :-) As for the edible nail polish that's just gross for all the reasons already mentioned.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young my sister chewed her nails so my mother painted all our nails with this stuff that had a gross taste and guaranteed a child would quit biting their nails or sucking their thumbs. Just to spite her for making me wear it I bit my nails off, the trick was to keep the painted side up so it didn't touch your tongue. Btw, my sister still chewed on her nails. :-)
Aren't you clever? Outsmarting both your mother and the nail polish. :)
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