Struggling to Unlock Your Phone? You Might Have Lost Your Fingerprints

The absence of these identifying marks is becoming more of an issue in the age of biometrics.

It’s natural to lose our fingerprints as we age, as the skin on the hands thins and the loops, whorls, and arches degenerate and even out.

Modern life also features an increasing amount of what dermatologist Roger N. Haber calls “microtrauma”—repeated wear on the fingertips.

Coltyn Stone-Lamontagne , 23 , is a computer science student in Manitoba , Canada , and has paid for his tuition for the past six years by spending summers planting trees.

Last year he noticed the wearing effect on his hands because he had a fingerprint lock on his phone.

Terri Krejci , 60 , from Huntsville , Alabama , lost her fingerprints after breast cancer treatment.

A criminal fingerprinting usually involves recording all 10 fingers as well as the palms, capturing a vast amount of detail.

It’s a very limited identifier if something goes wrong—and also something that gets around.

“You probably have a password for your computer, and you probably don’t get into the habit of sharing your password with other people,” Busey says.