Polydactyly
physical anomaly resulting in supernumerary fingers and/or toes
Polydactyly (commonly known as sixth finger and extra finger) is a birth defect that results in extra fingers or toes. The hands are more commonly involved than the feet. Extra fingers may be painful, affect self-esteem, or result in clumsiness.
Polydactyly is associated with at least 39 genetic mutations. It may either present alone or with other defects. Cases may run in families. The underlying mechanism involves an error in limb bud formation during early development. Diagnosis may occur before birth via prenatal ultrasound as early as nine weeks. X-rays may be useful after a child is a year old. The opposite is oligodactyly (fewer fingers or toes).
The public source identifies “Polydactyly” as physical anomaly resulting in supernumerary fingers and/or toes. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Polydactyly, physical and anomaly.
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This entry incorporates text from “Polydactyly” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.