Talk:Polydactyly

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Contents

[edit] Accuracy

I am not a doctor or a geneticist. Please check what I have written carefully! -- Oliver P. 06:35 Mar 6, 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Do they work?

I'd like to know if polydactylic people can have full functionality in the six fingers. What finger gets double if it is guessable? I suppose they don't get two thumbs. -- Davidme

Me too ... maybe somebody who knows about this could include a bit in the article? (And also mention the genetically bread six-finger piano artist in GATTACA). -- till we *) 17:38, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)

The last pictures show fingers that are separate and seem to be fully normal. I guess they are functioning well. Does someone know more?

As the originator of the pictures and the article I should be more specific. Many people with polydactyly have only rudimentary skin tags or even digits with some cartilage or bone. These can be removed shortly after birth with no adverse affect on the child. Many children, unless their birth mother tells them, have no idea that they had the condition.
The pictures here, 4 limb polydactyly are different. This child (now 11 in these pictures) had fully functioning digits in the hand and the foot. The hand actually has central re-duplication; the second or third finger is duplicated. The foot shows axial or lateral duplication (the 5th toe).
Repairing the foot would involve removing the 'normal appearing toe' and realigning the twisted one. The hand will probably not be redone. Because this child comes from a culture where having six fingers is considered 'bad luck' and the child might be killed or at worst shunned or cast out of local society. DrGnu 17:55, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

Are the extra fingers, if functional, as easy to remove in later life as they are after birth? Jackpot Den 12:51, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

The original question has not been answered. Are there any confirmed real stories of six fingered guitar players, piano players, etc.? I think it's important not to focus only on the negative side of genetic differences but also the possible postives. This is the best way to fight the kind of stigma mentioned above.

When I watched Gattaca, I assumed that the 6-fingered piano artist wasn't genetically bred, but that he was conceived through sex. Apparently the gene coding for six fingers is dominant. If he was an "invalid" or "love-child", it's quite possible that he would have been born with six fingers. I thought it was a nice touch by the director, showing how an unchosen mutation in a naturally born child resulted in a genetic advantage over genetically designed children.

You're right. The pianist is not genetically engineered, but rather a "faith birth." That whole scene was meant to illustrate that Vincent was not the only "in-valid" capable of outperforming his "valid" peers. --Logoskakou 14:00, 7 April 2006 (MST)

Sorry, but I have to say it.. it's 'Genetically BRED' --Mooky 06:45, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Types of polydactyly

In the list "Types of polydactyly" could someone "in the know" give a brief description of each? For laypeople (like me) it is incomprehensible. —Frecklefoot 14:53, Apr 15, 2004 (UTC)

Ditto for me! It looks like a catalogue of mysterious terms. David.Monniaux 06:55, 6 May 2005 (UTC)

They seem really fishy to me. "Polydactyly alopecia seborrheic dermatitis"? "Polydactyly cleft lip palate psychomotor retardation"? These sound bogus. —Keenan Pepper 03:40, 18 November 2005 (UTC)
I gotta admit, it looks fishy to me to, but these are actually real conditions. My only problem with them is that they are irrelevent, and like Frecklefoot said, they're incomprehensible. What's the point? -Darth Panda 14:08, 25 November 2005
What seems incomprehensible to some is not to others, even outside the medical profession. Moreover these technical terms provide search links for further explorations, both with Google and in books. Please do not dumb down articles just because some fail to understand the terms. It would be far more productive to make stubs or just redtext these terms so knowledge scope can be increased rather than kept at the very lowest common denominator. --15:07, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
Fishy but true (at least in the case of Varadi-Papp syndrome) see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16265870&dopt=Citation Jim Jacobs 03:35, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Polydactyly alopecia seborrheic dermatitis = Polydactyly + hair loss + "dandruff" ??????????

Is this for real? Come now..

If there is a link between those conditions, this "syndrome" would seem to be difficult to distinguish from a coincidental pairing of polydactyly and the rather common --> <androgenic\whatever> alopecia + "dandruff".

The net reveals little to no info on this .. All I can find is a repetition of the phrase : "Polydactyly alopecia seborrheic dermatitis" on "rare diseases" listings.

Also, keep in mind "dandruff" is in quotes.. split hairs, tell me seborrheic dermatitis is not dandruff .. :)

[edit] -Marilyn Monroe

The Marilyn Monroe section amounts to "Someone one thought Marilyn Monroe had polydactyly. But she didn't, actually. And now nobody even thinks she does." This is pointless, and especially pointless in this article. If whoever wrote it thinks it's really important, it should go over in Marilyn Monroe, not here. grendel|khan 17:16, 2005 May 6 (UTC)

[edit] Polydactyly in The Princess Bride

I was thinking maybe there should be something added about polydactyly appearing in The Princess Bride, looking for the man with six fingers on one hand? I don't know whether or not people think it would be appropriate in a encyclopedic article, but it is a fairly popular instance.--MacAddct1984 14:29, August 6, 2005 (UTC)

This is kinda similar to the Marilyn Monroe insert. It isn't important to the article, and if people really want to find out about this, they should look up The Princess Bride. -Darth Panda 14:08, 25 November 2005
I think it would be interesting to have a section about "Polydactyly in Popular Culture", or something to that effect. The book of second Samuel in the Bible mentions a six-fingered giant. (This was picked up on by Frank E. Peretti in his children's book "The Tombs of Anak") Mikepurvis 23:08, 25 November 2005 (UTC)
You might want to go to List of polydactyl people and add those facts. I'm not sure if Samuel is mentioned there. Darth Panda 17:43, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

The popular culture section seems to have duplicated information. It mentions hannibal and the princess bride twice, separately. I'm merging it. Also, is it really necessary to feature both biblical passages, seeing as they're practically identical?68.229.6.134 (talk) 04:51, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Beat the drum with six fingers

In the Ural cultures (finno-ugric) extra fingers were the sign of newborn being destined to become a shaman (a kind tribal wizard and visionaire). 195.70.32.136 07:09, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Useful picture for this article

I saw a picture in another article on wikipedia some time ago of a family (I think in pakastan) that all have 6 (of the functional type) fingers and have attached some sort of prestiege to it. The picture was very old but it had a small paragraph about them in the article. Does anyone know what this is? I will look for the article I think I edited it (doing disambiguation link repair) so I am going to look though my edit history. Dalf | Talk 19:53, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] POV?

"In the cult movie Gattaca, an embellishment of one of Schubert's Impromptus becomes a piece only playable with twelve fingers."

Is calling the movie Gattaca a "cult movie" really NPOV? The article on "Gattaca" does not contain any reference to it being a "cult movie".-Royalguard11Talk 03:06, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
The article on cult films contains a reference to Gattaca. Google picks out rather a lot of like references. Brilliant film, possibly there is a transatlantic difference in emphasis on the meaning of "cult film"? Google:
Cult film - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cult films often become the source of a thriving, obsessive, ... Night of the Living Dead, Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, The Hills Have Eyes, Gattaca, ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_film - 41k - Cached - Similar pages

Coriolise 15:11, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Doctors who operate on Polydactyl patients

Where in the world can you find doctors who actually know what to do for people who have this disorder? Are there so few of them that they are hard to find? Scorpio 1950 16:50, 3 August 2006 (UTC)Scorpio 1950

I have no idea. My friend Tara had Polydactyl. She was born with 6 toes on one foot. (Nearly everybody in her family was born with Polydactyl, but she was the only one who had bones and could actually use her extra... parts. It was removed shortly after birth.). I assume since Polydactyl is dominant that many people have it, there most be /some/ doctors knew what to do. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.112.29.124 (talk) 00:04, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] About "Extra digits in popular culture"

All of the entries in that list seem to be about people, so it seems redundant since there is an existing list of polydactyly people. Should that section be merged with the existing list and just provide a link? -Mizi 22:10, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Oprah

See the bossip web page... LILVOKA 02:30, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Miss Brazil

Natália Guimarães, Miss Brazil 2007 and Miss Universe 1rst Runner Up, was born polydactyl. Her father also had the condition and she says her eventual children would be candidates of being polydactyl, but she thinks that's no real problem. In portuguese: http://ego.globo.com/ENT/Noticia/Gente/0,,MUL82462-8334,00-NATALIA+GUIMARAES+FALA+SOBRE+POLIDACTILIA+QUE+A+FEZ+NASCER+COM+SEIS+DEDOS+N.html Aldo L 23:07, 3 August 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Giving the middle finger

When someone with polydactyly on non-thumb fingers, which finger would he or she use to give the bird to someone, typically? Oh yeah, and there's fingerspelling and ASL, both of which assume five-fingered hands. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rickyrab (talk • contribs) 03:12, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Image:Http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y233/sunnycal/img589.jpg== I have 12 toes ==[IMG]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y233/sunnycal/img589.jpg[/IMG]


and it makes buying shoes a pain!

Sunnycal 02:54, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Not to mention that in arguments the other partner can't say "Well if the glove fits" anymore, that must be annoying for them. JayKeaton (talk) 00:45, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Categories, people!

How is it that this article has been up since 2003 and it is still not categorized? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.34.217.222 (talk) 20:40, 26 May 2008 (UTC)