Checking for Dehydration on TikTok Is Silly and Useless
TikTok is a fantastic place to discover new things to worry about, or new ways to worry about old things. The last of these is the “dehydration test,” in which you pinch the skin on the joint. If your skin remains wrinkled for a few seconds, it is (presumably) your sign to drink a glass of water.
Guys, there is no epidemic of dehydration that we could accidentally fall prey to . If your body needs a glass of water, you will feel thirsty . Amazing right? A dehydration test is not required.
There are times when you might want to check if someone is dehydrated, especially if you are caring for an older person who may not be able to reliably sense thirst signals, or someone who may have trouble getting a drink or reporting that he needs it. The medical literature evaluating dehydration usually focuses on the elderly, children, and people with other medical problems. Not healthy adults who get bored and fill the void by scrolling through TikTok.
TikTokers are doing it wrong anyway.
So is the skin pinch test really? It seems, as it were, something like. Doctors will talk about skin turgor as one of the signs of hydration. (Turgor means stiffness; good skin turgor means that the skin will return to normal and indicates that you are well hydrated.) For example, if a nurse wants to check if a patient is likely to be dehydrated, she can use this test.
However, this Nursing Guide explains that a skin turgor test is just one of many ways to monitor a patient’s hydration status. It also explains something that TikTokers contributors seem to have missed:
Assess skin turgor by gently pinching the fold of skin between your thumb and forefinger. The skin you choose, such as under the collarbone or on the abdomen, sternum or forearm, should feel firm, move easily, and quickly return to its original position when released after a few seconds. Otherwise, the patient may be dehydrated.
and:
Do not check for skin turgor on the back of your hand or where the skin appears loose or thin.
Go ahead and pinch your forearm skin. Mine pulls back, although it takes a few seconds for the skin on my joint to return to normal after being pinched.
Lack of skin turgor, as measured by pinched skin on the forearm or abdomen, remains tense, indicates moderate to severe dehydration , defined as 10% or more of your body weight. So if your normal weight is 150 pounds, but somehow managed to lose 15 pounds of water, a proper skin turgor test will show that you are dehydrated. You will also feel like crap, and it’s no secret if you’re dehydrated or not.
There are a few more caveats about the skin turgor test that don’t really matter to healthy TikTokers, but worth pointing out if you’re wondering how it all works. A review of skin turgor testing in children has shown that it is not very reliable, and a review of the assessment of dehydration in the elderly indicates that skin turgor is not an important indicator because our skin loses its elasticity with age.