6 fingers

[acneupan]

Me and my little brother were born with six fingers on each hand. When we were (just around some weeks after born) we had a surgery and it was removed. Yes, there is a tiny little bump on the finger sticking out. Both of our parents did not have six fingers and neither did our grandparents.

1) How is that even possible for us to have it? (Don't say we were "adopted" because I was there when my little brother was born and I saw his finger.)

2) Will our kids one day get this from us?

3) Can I just cut the little bump on the finger sticking out. It'd be a clean cut but it would HURT like hell. Maybe have the doctors remove it and feel no pain?

[canalon]

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydactyly
so 1) likely a mutation (or one of your parent was having a 6th finger and had it removed and for some reason chose not to tell or ignore it)
2) 50% chance of them having it
3) It would be stupid to do it by yourself, but if you are not satisfied by your first surgery, go see a doctor to see what could be done (plastic surgeon?)

[Darby]

It's not necessarily a mutation - fingers develop in a fetus as a response to secreted chemicals, and that can be affected by certain allele combinations, but also by environmental interactions (womb chemistry, for instance).

[HelpPleaseThankYou]

My professor was just talking about Polydactyly (Dominant disorder) today and said that the many children that are born with an extra piece of skin that does not have a bone inside is NOT considered Polydactyly and thus is not an inherited, dominant mutation. Apparently, sometimes extra skin, with or without a nail, just forms on the hands and feet resembling a finger or toe and the doctors remove it at birth for cosmetic purposes. People who have Polydactyly have muscle and nerve function in the sixth digit as well as a bone. You will need to ask your parents if there was an X-ray performed to determine whether or not there was a bone in there and that will let you know if you carry the dominant gene. My professor is a Geneticist and I would believe her over anything read on Wikipedia. I just checked out the link and it has inaccurate information listed. But then again, my professor could make a mistake, but being her small lecture on Polydactyly centered upon distinguishing it from extra skin that may form, I tend to believe her.

You should never perform your own surgery because you can risk serious infection and uncontrolled bleeding, or worse. You have a lot of bacteria on your skin and no matter how well you think you clean it, it's never clean enough. The tools you use would also not be sterile and you also do not know how to perform surgery (that's why doctors go to school for many years so that they can learn properly). You could cut a vein or an artery and then you would be in big trouble...not to mention that doctors don't just cut off parts like that. There is a fine technique that utilizes lasers, sutures and sometimes even skin grafting, something you are incapable of performing in your own home. If the skin is bothersome and causing pain or getting in the way, you could see if your insurance will cover the removal. Otherwise, you would have to pay a plastic surgeon to remove it.