system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: If you cut your finger, why when it heals does it have the same unique fingerprint pattern?
gpt
You don't always get the same fingerprint, it depends on how deep the cut is. your skin has two major layers: the "dermis," which is the deep layer skin, and the "epidermis," which is the outermost layer (the layer with fingerprints). the look and feel of the epidermis is determined completely by the dermis, because the dermis is what creates the epidermis. you can think of the dermis as the "skin factory" and the epidermis as the "skin product." no matter how much you damage the epidermis, as long as the skin factory underneath is intact, the skin will always be replaced exactly the way it used to be, fingerprints and all. however, if you cut deep enough, you actually damage the dermis itself; you damage the skin factory. thats when you can get serious scarring and actually lose part of your fingerprint forever.