Happy New Year fams! Pretty sure last year was a blast for everyone. And yeah, trust me, this year promises to be splendid! With the peculiar warmth and joy in the atmosphere during these times, I reminisce with the events that took place this same time the previous year at the clinic where I was an intern. A woman was delivered of a baby whose digits on one hand were supernumerary. In the baby's case, he had an extra thumb more than the conventional pentadactyl digits.
The doctors were so amazed because this kind of polydactyly only occurred once in about 1000 to 10000 live births. The one thing that filled my head was; how did this happen? Could it be a result of mutation or what could possibly cause this? The parents too were bothered. They were skeptical about what should be done to correct the condition. Because apart from cosmetic reasons, the functionality of the thumb must also be taken into consideration. If left to grow and develop as an integral part of the digits, it's structure may affect the normal function of the original thumb. After so much deliberations with the parents and the doctors, it was agreed that a surgery be done to eliminate the extra digit. So an X- ray was conducted to examine the complexity of the structure. Fortunately, it wasn't really a complex one. So preparations were made for the procedure to be carried out. Firstly anaesthetic were given before cutting through the bone of the extra thumb. Then suture ligature was done to close the skin together and stop bleeding.
Surgery was successful and baby healed up quite rapidly. Well, as I recount these events, I'm still perturbed by the possibility of such duplication to internal organs and structures in the body. What could be the indicators of such conditions? How are we to prevent it's occurrence? I guess we'll all have to ponder over these.
