Ask Andy #2
this week’s question comes from jim, who writes:
i am newly undead, but unfortunately i was a floater and am concerned about possible occurrences of sloughage. can you provide advice on how i can either avoid such a thing or perhaps suggest a workaround for the mess?
just to clarify for those not up to speed on the terminology, a floater is a corpse that’s been in the water for an extended period of time. and sloughage occurs when liquid from the deteriorating cells of a corpse gets in between layers of skin and loosens them. sometimes, the skin of an entire hand will come off. as the process continues, giant sheets of skin can peel away from the body.
this is also often referred to as skin slip.
jim doesn’t mention how long he was in the water, but that shouldn’t have any bearing on the possibility or the severity of sloughage. the main factor with skin slip has to do with how long you were dead and whether or not you were embalmed prior to reanimation. formaldehyde will help to slow down the process of decomposition, keeping those pesky leaking cells in check. of course, if autolysis, or self-digestion, is well under way prior to reanimation, it’s only a matter of time before your fingertips start to look like they’re sheathed in rubber.
my advice is that if you notice any loose flaps of skin, don’t pick at them. that will only make the problem worse. and don’t bite your fingernails. that’s just asking for trouble.
