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Elasticity of the skin
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The elasticity of the skin depends on the content of the liquid in it and the properties of its constituents (primarily connective tissue proteins), the elasticity of the skin is checked by collecting the skin in a fold and observing its expansion. Normal turgor is characterized by sufficient elasticity of the skin, when the released skin fold is instantly straightened.
The elasticity of the skin depends on age - the skin elasticity is higher in children and young people than in the elderly. In the latter, the turgor of the skin is significantly reduced, the skin is stretchable, the fold of the skin is straightened with a delay. In addition, the reduction in skin elasticity occurs with many diseases.
- Especially, the elasticity of the skin decreases with Ehlers-Danlos disease (genetically determined).
- Also, a decrease in skin turgor can be associated with dehydration of any etiology. A classic example is cholera, when, due to severe diarrhea and dehydration, the elasticity of the skin is so reduced that the skin becomes wrinkled (the classic symptom of the "hands of the laundress").
- Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (diarrhea, malabsorption syndrome, including due to helminthic invasions).
- Endocrine diseases (diabetes, hyperthyroidism).
- Decreased expression of edema
- Malignant neoplasms.
- Diseases that occur with cardiac or pulmonary insufficiency (terminal stage of the disease, active treatment with diuretics).
- Chronic diseases (COPD, tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.).
When palpation in the subcutaneous tissue, you can identify painless limited, as it were, condensed areas of densified adipose tissue.
[How to examine?