Eli5: Why does irritated red skin ( sunburn for instance ) change back to its original color when pressure is applied ?
In: Biology
It turns red because it is irritated and inflamed. When skin is irritated and inflamed like this, extra blood flows into it, this extra blood is there to start and bring nutrients for the healing process.
So it is the extra blood that causes that red color.
When you then press down on your skin, you momentarily push that extra blood out like your squeezing a sponge, and then it takes a second to flow back into the spot you just pressed down on. So for a moment you don’t have the extra blood causing a red color, so it’s just your normal skin color.
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