Why are the palms of our hands so much lighter than the rest of our hand?

Question

Why are the palms of our hands so much lighter than the rest of our hand?

In: 16

Answer 1

The skin has 5 layers. At the bottom is the “basal” layer where your skin reproduces. At the basal layer your skin cells are yet to be melanated/ produce melanin so they are pale or white. As your skin matures and rises to the surface layers it will produces melanin respective to what your body instructs it to. Creating your natural skin tone.

The palms of our hands and the bottoms of our feet are covered with a special type of skin layer called “lucidum” which is see through. In Latin it literally means “clear layer.” So we can see the yet to be melinated skin cells in the palms of our hands at that basal layer but the back of our hand can be much darker.