Baby born with 12 fully-functional fingers

November 16, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

A baby born with 12 ‘perfectly formed’ fingers in San Francisco, CA could be ‘one in a billion.’

Nine-month-old Kamani Hubbard is now one of seven known humans to have perfectly-formed extra digits according to doctors at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center.

The condition of having more than the normal amount of digits on hands and feet is called polydactyly, and it’s exceedingly rare.

Hubbard was actually born with 12 fingers and 12 toes; however, only the fingers are perfectly formed. The toes weren’t perfectly formed, and doctors at the medical center recently performed surgery to remove them, giving the young tyke a better chance at walking normally.

“I think as he grows, he’ll have difficulty with normal things, running and activities, in his shoes,” said microsurgeon Scott Hansen to station KTVU in San Francisco. “I think that’ll be an irritating factor for him.”

Using a non-invasive, bloodless procedure, Hansen was able to remove the undeveloped toes in only a few minutes.

Dr. Hansen said: “After two weeks, he’ll do just fine. He’ll get back to his normal life and not miss the toes.”

Yet the hands of the baby are something different according to Dr. Hansen.

“These [are] perfectly formed bones,” said Dr. Hansen. “Six cases, I think, in the world have been reported, and I understand why because at any stage in development something can go wrong, and the finger wouldn’t function normally.”

His mother, Miryoki Gross, said: “Same processes that a 10-finger person would have-bone structure and everything-is perfect with his. His case is very rare.”

“Hopefully he’s able to realize what he has and utilize his abilities and become special,” said Kamani’s father, Kris Hubbard.