How long is a piece of string? Some questions are unanswerable. The knowledge that is possible to have about any one thing is infinite. For instance... Do we understand the mechanics of the skin, bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles, blood, lymph, seat glands, and nerves in the hand? Do we know the detailed anatomy and physiology at the cellular level?
Do we really know what works best for good skin health? Do we really understand hand hygiene? how chemicals, herbicides etc can be absorbed? whether moisturiser do any good &, if so, when?
What do we know about the genetics and genome of our skin, nails, cuticles etc?
Considering all that - which is far from infinite, most of us would barely know the back of our hands at all. Our knowledge would be limited to our sense perceptions, perhaps to the uses and experiences our hands give us, perhaps to the traces of those experiences left visible on the backs of our hands.
How could I paint a word portrait of the backs of my hands? I write for very long hours but have not yet suffered tenosynovitis - luck or good ergonomics. My hands are 62 years old, so getting wrinkly. Being lean, the metacarpi stand out, the skin sinks between them. The fingertips are spatulate. The skin is honey-bronzed from frequent exposure to the sun. There's a white stripe across the skin of my left ring finger. Working in the garden and with horses means the nails frequently break, need filing, never grow long. I wear gloves for hard work so there are no callouses. I scrub up afterwards to keep them clean. I never use moisturiser or nail polish - the skin is a little too dry, yet comfortable enough that I don't mind. The knowledge is trivial. It matters only to me. It would matter to my husband if something went dreadfully wrong, like skin cancer. It would bore most people to death.
This post was edited by inky at April 15, 2019 9:12 AM MDT
