CONGENITAL LIMB DIFFERENCES
What are congenital hand differences?
Babies born with hands that are different than the normal hand have a congenital
hand difference.
What causes congenital hand differences?
The upper limb is formed between four and eight weeks after the sperm and egg
unite to form an embryo. The embryo develops an arm bud at four weeks. The tip
of the arm bud sends messages to each cell as the upper limb forms. Millions of
steps are followed to form a normal arm. Failure of any of these steps to occur
can result in a congenital hand difference. Research continues into further
understanding of this embryonic process. Some congenital hand differences may
occur due to a genetic cause. Many congenital hand differences just occur
without an apparent cause.
What are different types of congenital hand differences?
One in twenty children is born with some difference from normal, either major or
minor. The different groups of congenital hand differences include missing parts
of the arm (failure of formation), webbed or fused parts of the hand (failures
of separation), extra parts present in the hand (duplication), undergrowth or
overgrowth of parts of the hand, or constriction band syndrome.
above text taken from ASSH Congenital Hand Differences brochure ( see link below)
Useful Links and Resources
ASSH Congenital Hand Differences brochure
Congenital Differences from ASSH (PDF)
Little Fins Limb Difference Group
Blogs