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Child born with six fully functional fingers


Phantasm

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It's more common than you think. Polydactyly is seen in around 2 per 1000 live births. You don't hear about it much because it gets surgically corrected early on. Of course, most of the time, the extra digits do not function normally.

 

It's been many, many years since I studied embryology. But I seem to remember that 6 digits (5 fingers and a thumb) is actually "normal" and 5 digits (like we have) is an autosomal dominant mutation. I'll have to dig through some of my old embryology textbooks to double check that.

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One time I was at a county fair sorta thing. They had a booth where they did wax castings of peoples hands for $5. A guy came up that had only 3 fingers and one thumb. It looked like it was that way from birth too. He said "can I get a dollar-off discount?"

:D

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My grandson has five fingers on his left hand. It is in the same place as where the thumb should be, but it is a functioning finger, long, two joints, etc. He is only 2 years old but it seems to be more comfortable for him to hold it in line with the other four, rather than opposed to the other four.

 

He should be a helluva guitarist or bassist. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*He is the same one having back surgery at the end of February.*

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Hound Dog Taylor had six fingers on his left hand...as noted above, the last one was nonfunctional. It is also interesting to note that women with polymastia (extra breast) have a higher incidence of having polydactyl children.

That shouldn't be a surprise. The same "homeobox" genes that control axial development and differentiation are at work in both cases.

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