Polydactyly

=//**Polydactyly**//= by Julia and Coco

Description of Disease
Polydactyly is having more than the normal amount of fingers or toes. It is the most common of hand disabilities. It can also be called polydactylia, polydactilism, or hyperdactyly. It can occur without other diseases or symptoms and as a dominant trait in families that has one gene and several different variations to it. Polydactyly happens because of errors to the process of fetal development. The extra digits are because of genetic defects. The usual causes are familial polydactyly (inherited), Ellis-van Creveld Syndrome, Carpenter Syndrome, Trisomy 13, Rubenstein-Taybi Syndrome, Smith-Lemli-Opitz, Laurence-Moon-Biedl Syndrome, and Asphyxiating Thoracic Dystrophy.The condition is usually inherited as an autosomal dominant characteristic. This means that the gene is not sex-linked, so females and males are both able to inherit the condition equally. Because the gene is also dominant, a kid with one parent who has the trait will have a fifty percent chance of getting it. There may be different degrees of polydactyly even within the same family and the same gene. African Americans inherit six fingers or more more often than other ethnicities, but it doesn't show a genetic disease most of the time. However, polydactyly can happen at the same time as a genetic disease. There are two separate forms of polydactyly. There is post-axial (the thumb side of the hand before axis) and post-axial (the little finger side of the hand before axis).The excess digits can be undeveloped and only attached by a little stalk mostly on the small finger side of the hand or fully formed and working. People with the condition may have a small extra stub or many other fingers or toes. The different ways that poydactyly can affect the hand are one, a small bump on the side of the hand, two, having more than four fingers and a thumb,three,having a finger that hangs by a small amount of skin or a stalk from the hand, and four, having a finger that widens into two fingers in which both fingers are usually smaller. Also, polydactyly can happen at the same time when excess digits are fused together, which is called polysndactyly. Polydactyly is thought to be common in humans as a development abnormality; it is reported in 2 out of 1,000 kids. It is an old trait, and except for a quirk in evolution, all animals living in modern times would have seven or eight digits instead of five. The oldest animals with four legs had seven or eight digits, but they disappeared about 350 million years ago.

Effects
People with polydactyly usually have to learn to cope with the extra fingers or have them removed. If someone chooses to have excess fingers removed they would usually get them removed early in life, often under age one. People with this condition get their extra digits removed for a variety of reasons. This includes so that they can be accepted by society and for practicality reasons; most common utensils and ordinary objects are designed for hands with five fingers. People who are affected by polydactyly will not be affected by any illnesses due to the disord

If the extra digits on the hands or feet are not fully developed digits, then it is possible to remove them by tying a piece of string around the skin or stalk that is attaching it to the hand, which causes the finger or toe to fall off within a period of time.If t he digits are fully developed and functional it can be surgically removed or kept.

Discussion Questions
1. How are both types of polydactyly (fully developed digits and undeveloped digits) treated? 2. What are the four different ways polydactyly can affect the hand? 3. Why would people with polydactyly want to get their extra digits removed? 4. What is polysyndactyly?