Why Does The Skin in Older People Appear ‘Leathery’?

Leather is made from dried and treated animal skin. As with animals, drying and ageing of the skin in humans can result in the loss of its ‘elastic’ properties which enable it to ‘snap’ back into place after being extended. Instead of being in its natural, well ordered pattern, the elastic fibres of the aged skin become random and disrupted and give the appearance of ‘deadness’ and of animal ‘leather’.