Syndactyly is an unusual connection of fingers. Syndactyly connects any two fingers or involves the thumb and pointer finger together. It can even involve more than two fingers. And, the involvement either may be of the skin or of the bones together.
Causes of Syndactyly
Mainly, most cases of syndactyly take place when a baby remains inside the mother’s womb, during the growth and formation of the hands and arms. An entire arm of a growing baby forms between 4 and 8 weeks of gestation. It indicates that by 56 days after a woman conceives, the hand of the developing baby comes in its final shape and form (sometimes a bit smaller). At the final phase of development (near about 40 days) the fingers of a baby get webbed and usually, the skin interconnections fade away before 56 days. But, in the meantime, if the cell signaling doesn’t take place just like it should usually, and the skin connections or the webbing continues, we call it Syndactyly. It is considered to be a birth defect that has nothing to do with the father and the mother.
Causes of Syndactyly
In general, there are 3 types of Syndactyly known in medical science.
- Partial or Complete Syndactyly – This type of Syndactyly involves the whole fingers or sometimes a part of the fingers.
- Cutaneous and Complex Syndactyly – In Cutaneous Syndactyly only the skin gets connected, while in the cases of Complex Syndactyly, the bones get interconnected.
- Complicated Syndactyly – Complicated Syndactyly involves other bodily complications with it. As a result, other health issues get prominent in someone’s body.
Appearance and function
Children having interconnected fingers or Syndactyly face some problems in executing daily activities like writing, holding, etc. One of the serious functional issues in syndactyly is grabbing large objects or holding circular objects since the fingers of a child who has Syndactyly do not fully spread apart just like other children. Besides that, so many children feel themselves to be inferior as their fingers look different from others, and as a result, these children are more likely seen depressed because of this major issue.
Treatment
Surgery is the best and only option to get rid of Syndactyly. The parents of these children who have Syndactyly tend to opt for surgery as early as possible. The surgery of Syndactyly can be conducted by efficient plastic and cosmetic surgeons when a baby is only 6 months old.