Do fingerprints change throughout the years?

As you age, skin on your fingertips becomes less elastic and the ridges get thicker. This doesn’t change your fingerprint, but it’s harder to scan or take a print from it.

The pattern of loops and whorls on your fingerprints was fixed three months before you were born. You can scar your fingerprints with a cut, or temporarily lose them through abrasion, acid or certain skin conditions, but fingerprints lost in this way will grow back within a month. As you age, skin on your fingertips becomes less elastic and the ridges get thicker. This doesn’t change your fingerprint, but it’s harder to scan or take a print from it.

Alex Round, London 
Rodrigo Farina, Jundiaí