Discoloration of the Hands, Feet, and Lips
Discoloration of the hands, feet, and lips can be a symptom of overhydration. Because our skin loses water through evaporation, it absorbs water from an outside source. This allows the skin to maintain hydration. Water absorption into the skin can outpace natural evaporation when a person consumes too much water too quickly.
When this happens, the water that enters skin cells cannot escape because there is no longer an adequate concentration gradient between the inside skin cells and the outside environment. The result is that excess water accumulates in cells on a local level throughout the body (i.e., in hands, feet, and lips). This causes their color to appear more prominent than normal.
The only way to reverse discoloration caused by overhydration is for a person to decrease their intake of fluids until the normal cellular function returns to normal levels.
