11/29/2004: Extra fingers and toes

[Karenv]

You'd think extra fingers might come in handy. My husband was born with a tail. They just clipped it off.

[Uryoces]

Originally Posted by capnhowdy

Every day I find a new reason to be thankful.
I had a friend as a child who was polydactyl.
In childish innocence I joked about how he had an edge on the rest of us.
He said his life was probably more complicated than someone with one LESS digit. Hard for me to imagine. I had practically forgotten about this dude.....

Gloves are not the gift of choice for this person I take it.

[Syrinx]

Originally Posted by Troubleshooter

Let me guess, he got the surgery for free right?

Nope, it cost him an arm and a leg.

-rim shot-

[KronKyrios]

What a timely pic... i was just trolling for "image of the day" sites and found this pic was recently posted here. *I* have a double thumb on my right hand.

I have plenty of pics, and lots of little anecdotes... and yeah, gloves are a problem item... i usually buy a size up, and deal with the sloppiness of the other fingers, or cut a split in the thumb. Certain brands are better than others.

Bowling balls are a problem, so i had one special drilled for me... the guy spent eight hours drilling it (at least 6 attempts), but it still didn't turn out right.

And scissors! I have to turn them around and use the finger side for my thumbs and put one finger thru the thumb-hole!

[Karenv]

Originally Posted by KronKyrios

What a timely pic... i was just trolling for "image of the day" sites and found this pic was recently posted here. *I* have a double thumb on my right hand. ...!

Wow, as an acupuncturist I wonder what happens to the meridians that go down the thumb. Certainly the lung meridian, but the large intestine meridian which goes through the cleft between the thumb and first fingers might be affected too.

Is the second thumb fully functional? (How about using leftie scisors if you need to use them backwards?)

[wolf]

I was thinking that perhaps an exacto knife or rotary cutter of some kind would be far easier to deal with than scissors.

They are my preference for paper crafts and also pattern cutting, and I have the conventional number and arrangement of digits.

[Uryoces]

Originally Posted by KronKyrios

What a timely pic... i was just trolling for "image of the day" sites and found this pic was recently posted here. *I* have a double thumb on my right hand.

I have plenty of pics, and lots of little anecdotes... and yeah, gloves are a problem item... i usually buy a size up, and deal with the sloppiness of the other fingers, or cut a split in the thumb. Certain brands are better than others.

Bowling balls are a problem, so i had one special drilled for me... the guy spent eight hours drilling it (at least 6 attempts), but it still didn't turn out right.

And scissors! I have to turn them around and use the finger side for my thumbs and put one finger thru the thumb-hole!

Koala bears are similarly endowed. Aside from gloves and scissors, is it more of an asset or hinderance having a multi-thumb?

[KronKyrios]

Well, I don't know anything about acupuncture...

I did get an x-ray, and can tell you that the bones seperate at the first section. So, each thumb has two bones and one joint of it's own. The split is right at the base of where the side of my hand is (directly below the left side of my index finger). I have feeling in all parts... there are no dead-spots.

I can't use right-handed scissors very well with my left hand, because of how they are designed... the pressure you exert in the natural scissor-using posture keeps the blades together... if you use them in the wrong hand, it actually separates the blades as you cut, making it very difficult to cut anything. So, that also makes using lefties in the right hand impractical.

Xactos are fine, but I don't cut enough stuff to make it necessary. Most of my cutting is done with a mouse.

I am definitely Right-Handed. I am not skilled in much of anything with my left.

As for other tasks, having double thumbs seems mostly neutral. I don't have any great advantages... yeah, I can pick up one extra item when my hands are full... whoopdie-do... Sometimes, they come in handy while tying my shoes. The muscles are pretty strong, but i can't move each thumb independantly. I can barely bend them down, at all. I can pinch them together hard enough to draw blood (on someone else)... but i can't bend them.

I find that I use one thumb for some things, and the other thumb for other things... usually whichever one is closer, consideriing the task. For example, I use the inside thumb when writing, and the outside one to press the spacebar.

Kenneth

[BrianR]

I am still waiting for my attaboy for NOT posting my picture of a man with two you-know-whats. And it's not a fake either.

Brian

[xoxoxoBruce]

No forked tongue, Brian?

[Karenv]

Actually it looks like an extra little finger is more functional than an extra thumb, especially if you can't bend the thumb.

I guess for the acupuncture I'd use an extra needle on the extra digit.

[Troubleshooter]

Originally Posted by BrianR

I am still waiting for my attaboy for NOT posting my picture of a man with two you-know-whats. And it's not a fake either.

Brian

That one belongs in the WTF section...

[wolf]

Didn't you post a link to that somewhere else, bri? Coulda sworn I'd seen that one.

[jinx]

Originally Posted by Elspode

I would have liked to have seen this guy's x-rays.

Does anyone know how I would go about putting xray images on the computer? Probably phrased that wrong... I have xrays I want to save as jpgs but they don't scan well - too dark. Any ideas?

Originally Posted by jinx

Does anyone know how I would go about putting xray images on the computer? Probably phrased that wrong... I have xrays I want to save as jpgs but they don't scan well - too dark. Any ideas?

You'd need a double flatbed scanner that can be used for transparencies (negatives, mostly) but also for those overhead projections that are used in lectures sometimes. I know Microtek Scanmaker III (no longer made) has one, but I'm sure there are other models out there. A drum scanner would also work, but I doubt most people have one of those in their homes. A pre-press firm might scan it for you cheap.