Polydactylism

It’s a big word with Greek origins, so chances are you haven’t heard the term Polydactylism even though you probably know what it means.

Polydactyly is a deformity that affects humans, dogs, and cats, in which a person is born with one or more extra fingers and toes.

During normal embryonic development, hands start off as a kind of paddle shape and then the fingers split from there at about the six or seven-week mark. For a fetus affected by this condition, the hand will split with an extra finger.

It’s one of the most common congenital hand defects, affecting one out of every 500 to 1,000 live births. But generally, it results in only an extra finger or thumb. That wasn’t the case, however, for young Hong Hong.

Hong Hong’s Special Case

Hong Hong was born in January in the Hunan province of China. Instead of just one extra finger or toe, Hong Hong was born with a total of 31 digits. The baby boy has 15 fingers and 16 toes.

In addition to his extra phalanges, Hong Hong has two palms on each hand, and no thumbs. So in spite of his hand forming so many extra fingers, none of them developed into a functioning opposable thumbs.

This will pose a problem when it comes time for surgery because the doctors will be charged with creating thumbs somehow if Hong Hong is to have any hope of normal dexterity.

The surgery needed to correct the infant’s Polydactylism will cost roughly 200,000 Chinese yuan, or $30,000. To raise the money, his parents created a crowdfunding campaign. They had raised more than $6,000 when they decided to halt their efforts. Hong Hong’s father said he was uncomfortable with some of the comments being left on the crowdfunding page.

For the time being, the family is heading back to their home to come up with a plan. Hong Hong is still too young for the surgery. A doctor at Hunan Province People’s Hospital told Hong’s father that his son should have an operation between six months and 1 year old.