Coating cracks mimic skin damage

This proposed hypothesis asks whether apparent damage in coated skin comes from cracks in the coating rather than tears in the living surface beneath it. The test changes the ratio of stress-relaxation time, how long skin takes to shed force while held bent, to bending period, the duration of each flex. Coating and tissue receive separate labels. Imaging through the coating before removal, followed by serial tissue sections, would reveal whether optical cracks rise while the epidermis, skin's outer cell layer, stays continuous. If confirmed tears still track this ratio after coating-only events are excluded, the hypothesis weakens.