Fingerprint recognition doesn't hold for older user

My MacBook Air M3 won't hold on to my fingerprints. Which finger is used doesn't make any difference. I've tried setting recognition for every single one. Recognition works for a few to several logins, then fails until I delete and replace. Then, a few or several logins later, recognition failure recurs.

My wife's new iPad does the same thing.

We suspect it has to do with the condition of our skin. We are both in our seventies, and our fingers are thin skinned, with barely perceptible fingerprints.

We've learned to live with using passwords for everything. Face recognition works just fine on my iPhone. Just wish Apple would use face recognition on all hardware.