Polydactyly

physical anomaly resulting in supernumerary fingers and/or toes

Polydactyly is a birth defect which may affects the hands, feet, or both. It causes one or more extra fingers or toes. It can affect people, and other mammals such as dogs, and cats.

Left hand with sixth finger. This is an example of polydactyly.

It is also called hyperdactyly. It is the opposite of oligodactyly.

Diagnosis/Classification

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Ulnar polydactyly

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The classification of ulnar polydactyly exists of either two or three types. In type A, there is another finger at the metacarpophalangeal joint. In type B, there may be a nubbin to an extra finger part.

Radial polydactyly

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The Wassel classification is the most popular classification of radial polydactyly. It is widely used by many scientists.

People with polydactyly

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Real-life people

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  • Antonio Alfonseca, retired baseball pitcher.
  • Endre Ady, a Hungarian poet
  • Gemma Arterton, an English actress
  • Robert Chambers and William
  • Lucille Clifton, an African-American poet and civil rights advocate
  • Zerah Colburn, American prodigious math calculating savant
  • Calvin Choy, a Hong Kong singer
  • Vicente Fox, former President of Mexico
  • Danny Garcia, boxing champion
  • Yoandri Hernández Garrido has six fully formed fingers on both hands and six perfect toes on each foot.
  • Hampton Hawes, jazz pianist
  • Henry II the Pious, High Duke of Poland 1238–1241
  • Hong Hong has 31 fingers and toes.
  • Kamani Hubbard was born with 12 fingers and 12 toes, all fully functional.
  • Johann Jacob Freiherr von Moscon, Lower Styrian baron
  • Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong's fourth wife
  • Hrithik Roshan, a Bollywood actor
  • Nayanthara, an Indian actress
  • Akshat Saxena from Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Garfield Sobers, West Indian cricketer
  • Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor, Chicago-based American blues guitarist
  • Varalakshmi V
  • Volcacius Sedigitus, a Roman poet
  • Zhu Yunming, a Chinese calligrapher, had six fingers on his right hand.[citation needed]
  • Reggy B, a drag queen and contestant on the second season of Drag Race Holland

Fictional people

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A baby with polydactyly on the feet
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References

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  1. Swanson AB (1976). "A classification for congenital limb malformations". J Hand Surg Am. 1 (1): 8–22. doi:10.1016/s0363-5023(76)80021-4. PMID 1021591.Watt AJ, Chung KC (2009). "Duplication". Hand Clin. 25 (2): 215–227. doi:10.1016/j.hcl.2009.01.001. PMID 19380061.
  2. Biesecker LG (2002). "Polydactyly: how many disorders and how many genes". Am J Med Genet. 12 (3): 279–83. doi:10.1002/ajmg.10779. PMID 12357471.
  3. Hirota, Yuka; Ueda, Koichi; Umeda, Chizuru; Yoshida, Eriko (2022-11-03). "New Notations for Better Morphological Distinction of Postaxial Polydactyly of the Foot". Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open. 10 (11): e4504. doi:10.1097/GOX.0000000000004504. ISSN 2169-7574. PMC 9633084. PMID 36348750.
  4. Eaton, Charles. "Polydactyly (Extra Fingers)". Retrieved 9 February 2010.