Superheroes are born with unique traits that make them stand out from everyone else. It turns out that unusual people live next to us and walk along the same streets. Extraordinary they were made by genetic failures in the body.
In this gallery, you will meet people with amazing birth defects and extremely rare genetic traits. From unique hair color to an “extra” arm.
#01. A newborn baby has the same unusual strand of hair as her mother.
Birthmarks are most often found on the body, but sometimes they can also be found on the hair. This feature is caused by the absence of melanin in this area of the hairline. As you can see, an unusual strand can be inherited.
#02. The girl’s eye is painted in two colors at once
Heterochromia is a genetic variation that combines several colors in the iris at once. Usually, one shade dominates, and the other takes a secondary position.
#03. My dad has 6 fingers on each hand.
The two pairs of middle fingers on the man’s hands do not bend, but they are fully formed and can move. Polydactyly was also inherited by his son, but the boy had his extra fingers removed at a young age.
#04. I suffer from Waardenburg syndrome. I am deaf in one ear, my hair is white and my eyes are different colors.
This unusual genetic phenomenon affects eye color, and hair color and sometimes causes hearing loss. The complex combination of genes occurs in one in 42,000 people, and there is no cure for this syndrome yet.
#05. My nephew inherited thumbs from both parents.
Whether we like it or not, we are the children of our parents. We get a combination of genes from dad and mom and this determines everything from eye color to finger shape.
#06. A very rare birth defect known as “mirror hand”.
Ulnar dimelia – a phenomenon when the thumb is missing on the hand, and the hand doubles. Thus, a person has seven or eight fingers on one limb at once. This anomaly is so rare that there have been no more than a hundred such cases, all of which are described in the medical literature.
#07. I only have 4 fingers on my left hand and instead of a thumb, I have an index finger.
Symbrachydactyly is a congenital condition where a baby is born with missing or underdeveloped fingers. People with such features have to adapt to everyday life or turn to surgeons to correct the anomaly.
#08. My son was born with natural elf ears.
Stahl’s ear is a deformity that makes a person look like an elf. In the first weeks of a baby’s life, it can be corrected if the parents want it.
#09. My boyfriend only has freckles on one side of his face.
Doctors explain such an unusual arrangement of freckles with an unusual birthmark on one side of the face.
#10. I was born with a spot on the surface of my eye.
A scar in the eye, or macular fold syndrome, can damage vision and even lead to blindness. This feature happens when the vitreous body of the eye (a jelly-like substance) spills out of the retina.
#11. Half of my right eyelashes are white
This girl first discovered the anomaly when she was 11 years old. She woke up and saw that part of her eyelashes had turned white. Over time, the number of “blonde” cilia increased, and now they make up exactly half. Oddly enough, this is a vitiligo syndrome, when immunity is very weak in one of the areas of the body, so the pigmentation disappears from there.
#12. A guy can pick up objects with the back of his hand.
People whose joints flex in all directions are endowed with the ability of hypermobility. This is mainly characteristic of children, and with age, this skill may disappear.
#13. I have “tentacles” under my tongue. Probably not a very common disease.
It’s not part of the Halloween prep, it’s fringed tongue syndrome. The tentacle-like growths under the tongue are not uncomfortable but can get stuck between the teeth.
#14. I was born with six toes on my left foot and my friend with four on her right foot.
The man has hexadactyly (six fingers on one limb), while the woman, on the contrary, was missing one toe on her foot.
#15. I was born without a bone in my nose.
The boy in the photo was born without a nasal septum. But, despite this, he does not have nosebleeds and there is no feeling of discomfort.
#16. My daughter’s head looks like this
Unexplained innate features have always been the source of myths and legends. Birthmarks, it was believed, could highlight the chosen one of the gods or reveal the secret of a past life.
#17. Internal hematoma in the finger
This photo is interesting not only for the incomprehensible darkening in one of the fingers but also for the absence of bones in all the others. Most likely, this happened due to the play of chiaroscuro in the frame.
#18. This baby was born with 12 fingers.
Another example of polydactyly. The boy was born with 12 toes.
#19. Little finger – the largest finger on the hand
Macrodactyly is a very rare feature where a person has one or more fingers that are much larger than the rest.
#20. Wrinkled fingers after bathing
The skin on the fingers after a long stay in the water wrinkles almost everyone. Scientists have found that this is due to reactions of the nervous system, but why this happens in a humid environment remains unknown.
#21. The finger on the right-hand does not bend
This genetically determined condition occurs when the tendons get too tight and blocked. This anomaly occurs in three out of a thousand people.
#22. Five fingers, but without a thumb
The man has all five fingers, but there is no thumb among them. This feature is called triphalangia. It can be corrected by surgery to “make” a thumb on the hand. This anomaly occurs in one in 25,000 newborns.
#23. Just three fingers on the hand
About 10% of children are born with hand deformities. They form in early pregnancy. The case in the photo is a split hand when the middle part of the hand does not develop as usual. Babies with this syndrome are born without one or more fingers on their hands.
#24. Black lock of hair on a blonde baby
When a person with dark hair has a white strand, this is called poliosis, in which there is a lack of melanin in a certain area. When a black curl appears in fair-haired people, this means that in this place the amount of melanin is increased significantly.
#25. Connected toes
Two women found themselves suffering from the same syndactyly syndrome, in which their toes grow together. They decided to celebrate this common feature with identical tattoos.
This case does not break the laws of genetics, because injuries and injuries cannot be inherited. But, as you can see, every rule has exceptions.
#27. Eye, gray by a third
Heterochromia, which we talked about earlier, can be sectoral. The genetic mosaic creates a wonderful combination of colors in the iris.
#28. Symmetrical whirlwinds on the head
What looks like a trendy haircut is actually the result of a genetic glitch.
#29. An anomaly that is visible even in the womb
Amniotic syndrome, in which a child is born with constrictions on his arms, does not affect immunity but creates a lot of difficulties for a person in everyday life.
#30. The girl is missing a nail on one of her fingers.
Anonychia is a genetic disorder that affects fingernails and toenails. People with this anomaly may be missing or all nails, or several. This feature does not affect the general state of health.
All these cases are unusual, and sometimes seem incredible. Nature loves to guess riddles, and humanity still has to guess them. Genetics is the vaguest area in which medicine is only at the beginning of the path, where humanity still has many interesting things ahead of it.