# So why won't my skin stay on?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-wont-my-skin-stay-on/288564>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 5, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-wont-my-skin-stay-on/288564 "2005-02-05T20:35:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-wont-my-skin-stay-on/288564/1 "2005-02-05T20:35:47Z")

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Every few years this happens, and it’s happening again. The skin on the soles of my feet (my right one, at the moment) just starts peeling off, over the entire sole, seemingly spontaneously. I admittedly can’t resist the urge to hurry the process by picking a bit, but it happened on its own (I thought it was dry skin for a few days, but then it started falling off.)

I’m not worried much about this; I doubt it’s symptomatic of any real trouble. But why does this happen? It’s only the superficial dead cells (fairly thick on the soles of ones feet) and my foot looks, well, frightening.

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**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-wont-my-skin-stay-on/288564/2 "2005-02-05T20:49:09Z")

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This happens to me occasionally too. I’d also like an explanation.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-wont-my-skin-stay-on/288564/3 "2005-02-06T20:29:00Z")

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I had a fungal infection for many years which caused something similar, though it was more continual, rather than off-and-on. Perhaps you have a fungus?

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-wont-my-skin-stay-on/288564/4 "2005-02-06T21:27:21Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> I had a fungal infection for many years which caused something similar, though it was more continual, rather than off-and-on. Perhaps you have a fungus?

There’s a fungus among us?

Geez, what is this, High School or sumptin? 😉😃