Foot health
Syndactyly
Mar
Unlike polydactyly it is one more finger on one of the two feet. Syndactyly is the fusion of the bone or skin of two toes.
Usually this anatomical anomaly occurs mostly by merging the proximal phalanxes of the second and third finger. But it can happen by merging third and fourth.
Syndactyly physiopathology.
It occurs in approximately one in 2000 births caused by incomplete or absent apoptosis during pregnancy. Therefore, we can generally say that it has a mostly genetic cause.
Some syndromes may be associated
Klippel-Feil syndrome
Down syndrome.
But mostly it’s because of family syndactyly
Classification of syndactyly.
- Most common type of simple syndactyly
- With complex syndactyly affectation
Simple syndactyly.
When the fusion of the two fingers affected by syndactyly only occurs in soft tissue without merging any bone part of the phalanges-
Complex syndactyly.
We classify as complex when the fusion of bone tissue occurs or when one of the phalanges is divided into the shape of and from which the two fingers come out.
Symptoms.
It is an almost exclusively aesthetic pathology that does not usually produce pain
Treatment.
Conservative.
As we said above it is painless and does not require any specific treatment in the event that some type of contractures occur between the fingers could indicate some type of silicone separator.
Surgical.
it can be operated for aesthetic reasons and is a more complicated surgery if it affects bone tissue. This surgery may have some complications such as painful scar tissue.
