Baby boy born with 15 Fingers and 16 Toes

The three-month-old boy, nicknamed Hong Hong, was born to two migrant workers from the village of Zhongping, in Pingjiang County of China’s central Hunan Province, was born with polydactylism— a congenital condition in which the individual has extra ( Total 31 ) fingers and toes and has two palms, but no thumbs on either hand, Central European News (CEN) reported. 

 

The child suffers from an extreme case of polydactyly which is a congenital physical anomaly that can occur in humans, dogs, and cats giving them a larger number of digits on their hands and feet.

Astonishingly, Hong Hong has two palms on his hands and no thumbs.

Zou Chenglin, Hong Hong’s father, said his wife, who works in a factory in Shenzhen City, in southern Guangdong Province, also has polydactylism.

"My wife has one extra finger and toe on each of her hands and feet, so we were worried that our child would inherit the condition,” Zou said. "But after going to three big hospitals in Shenzhen, doctors found no birth defects on our son during prenatal scans.” When the boy was born, he had seven fingers on his right hand and eight on his left, along with eight toes on each of his feet.

Zou Chenglin, the father, said the family has visited multiple hospitals and learned that their son can be operated on between six months and one year of age, which could cure the abnormality.

Now that the shock and disappointment has worn off, the couple are hoping to raise money for their son to have surgery to largely correct the syndrome.

The surgery could cure the polydactylism and hopefully give the boy a chance at a normal childhood, without the stigma and social pressure and difficulties that would accompany having an inordinate amount of fingers and toes.

However, the poor migrant worker family will be unable to raise the 100,000 to 500,000 Yuan($20,000 to $100,00) required for the operation and the post-op recovery. The family is now trying to reach out to local charities and is hoping that the public will extend a helping hand to give their son a more normal childhood. One difficulty is that the boy’s condition is not life-threatening and therefore not perceived as a priority, compared to the condition of those suffering from more severe diseases, CEN reported.