# Why does my skin lose all it's pigment when I wear a band-aid for a couple of days?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-skin-lose-all-its-pigment-when-i-wear-a-band-aid-for-a-couple-of-days/268518>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 10, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-skin-lose-all-its-pigment-when-i-wear-a-band-aid-for-a-couple-of-days/268518 "2004-10-10T21:44:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pyrrthon1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@pyrrthon1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pyrrthon1)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-skin-lose-all-its-pigment-when-i-wear-a-band-aid-for-a-couple-of-days/268518/1 "2004-10-10T21:44:22Z")

</div>

You wear a band-aid for too long and all the color goes out of your skin and it becomes sensitive, looks like you could peel it off. Exactly what happens? Plus, what happens to black folk’s skin?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-skin-lose-all-its-pigment-when-i-wear-a-band-aid-for-a-couple-of-days/268518/2 "2004-10-10T22:06:25Z")

</div>

The skin has been kept damp under the band-aid, which makes it very soft. It’s like oversoaking in a tub. The skin is absorbing more moisture and puffing up.

It isn’t actually losing its pigment, it’s simply swelling. As it swells, it can become fairly detached from the under layers.