[vhfpmr (OP)]

Mine seem immune.

[paul cotter]

Depends on which side of the hand you are thinking of. The palms have very low melanocyte levels compared with the rest of the body and tanning rarely occurs to any significant degree- people with very dark skin colour usually have palms which are quite pale in comparison. The other side, ie the back of the hand, will tan as normal, mine certainly do.  Ps: I didn't read your question properly and the answer I gave is for the question "why do hands not TAN". Any unprotected area of the skin will suffer burns with sufficient sun exposure. Try exposing the palms of your hands to strong sunlight for 3-4 hours and I think you will achieve a burn. 

[alancalverd]

If you have caucasian skin and wear a wristwatch, you will certainly see the contrast with the unexposed area in summer, but the back of the hand gets so much exposure that we get used to its normal hue being darker than the forearm the rest of the year anyway.

[vhfpmr (OP)]

Depends on which side of the hand you are thinking of. The palms have very low melanocyte levels compared with the rest of the body and tanning rarely occurs to any significant degree- people with very dark skin colour usually have palms which are quite pale in comparison. The other side, ie the back of the hand, will tan as normal, mine certainly do.  Ps: I didn't read your question properly and the answer I gave is for the question "why do hands not TAN". Any unprotected area of the skin will suffer burns with sufficient sun exposure. Try exposing the palms of your hands to strong sunlight for 3-4 hours and I think you will achieve a burn. 

I've spent many years indulging in outdoor activities like fellwalking and cycle touring that involve being out in the hottest sun all day every day, and discovered numerous ways of getting sunburnt, even when using sun cream. In all that time, the backs of my hands have never been burnt, despite the fact that I never put sun cream on them. Tanned yes, burnt no. (I wash my hands after applying sun cream otherwise it makes a greasy mess of everything I touch, particularly the bike handlebars.) My hands don't face upwards towards the sun when I'm walking, but they do when I cycle.