My nephew was born with 6th fingers on his left hand. Have you ever heard of this?

Question

Why?

Answer 1

sure, Anne Bolyn one of the wives of Henry the VIII had six fingers, it happens rather frequently actually.

Answer 2

The presence of an extra sixth finger or toe, a very common congenital malformation (birth defect).

This condition is called hexadactyly. The word hexadactyly literally means six digits. In medical usage, hexadactyly does not specify whether the six digits are fingers or toes (although in Greek "dactylos" is without equivocation a finger).

The 6th digit can be located in three different locations: on either side of the extremity or somewhere in between. With the hand for example, the extra finger can be out beyond the little finger (which is called ulnar hexadactyly) or out beyond the thumb (radial hexadactyly) or, finally, between two of the normally expected fingers (intercalary hexadactyly).

Far and away the most frequent form of hexadactyly is ulnar (postaxial) hexadactyly. Next comes radial (preaxial) hexadactyly. And far and away the rarest form of hexadactyly is intercalary hexadactyly.

Hexadactyly in itself can be innocuous, absolutely harmless and very easily remedied, when the hexadactyly is an isolated finding and the baby is otherwise entirely normal. Ulnar hexadactyly with just a rudimentary tag of a sixth digit, for instance, can be very simply treated by tying it off with one suture.

However, hexadactyly can also be one of a number of congenital malformations affecting the baby. In this case, treatment may not be so simple and the prognostic outlook may not be as good.

Hexadactyly can be seen on some prenatal ultrasound scans. To present a real case, an ultrasound scan showed "a rudimentary 6th digit on both hands." A more detailed ultrasound confirmed "a 6th digit on ulnar side of each hand" and showed that 6th digit "is small and just a floppy skin tag." No other morphological (physical) abnormalities of the fetus were visible. Another ultrasound with even greater resolution revealed "a rudimentary digit/skin tag on the palmar surface of the hand lying between the 4th and 5th digits." Again, no abnormality was seen elsewhere on the baby.

The differential diagnostic list of disorders causing hexadactyly is pretty long. But many were excluded by the absence of other malformations. It also seemed a particular type of hexadactyly. If it were an intercalated extra digit (with the extra finger situated between the other fingers), the list would be much smaller and only a very few entities such as the Pallister-Hall syndrome and Greig syndrome (but there would usually be other things to see in either of these 2 syndromes). The final diagnosis in this case has not yet been made. We have present the case to convey the quandary that can occur when hexadactyly is discovered antenatally (before birth) today.

Hexadactyly is the most frequent form of polydactyly, a diagnosis that encompasses all cases of extra digits, irrespective of the number of extra digits in a particular case.

Answer 3

Yep - although it's more common in cats!

Most of the cats on Key West (florida) are said to be descended from a pair of six-toed cats that belonged to writer Ernest Hemingway.

Like your nephew, the cats live normal lives, with no ill effects from the extra finger.

Hope your nephew takes piano, guitar, or violin lessons. The extra finger will come in handy.

Answer 4

Yes,I've heard of this. In the Old Testament, there were several people that had 6 fingers on both hands. I knew a that had 6 toes on each foot.

Answer 5

Yes, I have seen this, also, a baby with fingers on his feet and toes on his hands. If I remember correct these were going to a Scimitar Hospital to get fixed. I know it was the Scimitars, not sure it was the name of the Hospital.
Well, I may be spelling wrong or something. It the guys we see in parades with the Red hat and a Tassel.
Shriners Hospital!!!! Ha! I was racking my brain on that one.

Answer 6

I used to work with a guy who had an extra little finger attatched to each hand. It was more of a skin flap, if that makes sense as there was no bone structure and was almost flat.

Usually they are removed at birth now, however it is quite common, and not an indication of anything serious.

Answer 7

Yes it happend rather frequently. I know someone who was and when they were born the doctors wrapped the 6th finger in like string to stop the circulation. Then it just falls of sortof i think -disgusting i know. You would wake up with a finger in your bed.

Answer 8

My cousin had an extra thumb on each hand when born and had it surgically removed.

Years later when she was pregnant, it was discovered that she had 2 wombs and she has been pregnant in both of them,

The explanation they gave her is just a fault in the manufacturing or possibly twins that never formed. Its very common. Goldie Hawns daughter has 6 toes on each foot and she wears flip flops so its obviously more accepted than you might think!

Answer 9

the 6th finger is a recessive trait that people carry...its a DNA thing....if mom and dad both carry the recessive gene for the 6th finger then the baby will have a 1 in 4 chance of being born with that recessive trait......its just basically like eye color....if moms eye are blue and dads are brown.......and dad carries the recessive trait for blue eyes then there is a 1 in 2 chance that the baby will have blue eyes...same thing with the 6th finger...

Answer 10

Yes I have! I have heard of people being born with only one kindey, 12 toes, many different thing! It is just the way the are produced inside the mothers stomach! Sometimes they will over produce/grow & somtimes they dont grow enough!

Answer 11

Yes, I've heard of this. It's less common nowadays, but it's not too strange. My cousin actually was born with a mini thumb attached to his normal thumb, which let him have kind of tweezers. He had it removed at a young age though.