I have Polydactyly, and I have a very serious question

[Wonder_Wood]

First, some background info: I was born with pre-axial polydactyly. Not a severe case, but basically I had a growth hanging off of my left thumb when I was born. It was removed very soon after, and so I've had a charismatically crooked thumb throughout my 20 years of existence, which is going to be "fixed" surgically in about a month. It has never given me much trouble. At least none worth mentioning.

From what I've gathered, I am the only person in my family to ever have been born with an extra digit, at least as far as I know, so it is not a family trait that's been passed down to me. My two siblings do not have it. Neither do my parents, or my grandparents. Just lucky ol' me. So it seems to have been a random occurrence. It was not accompanied with any other physical conditions or deformities. It's just a jacked up thumb. Now I understand that polydactyly by itself is a dominant trait when genetic, but I've also heard that it is not always genetic, and in fact there is no explanation for it most of the time.

Okay, so onto the question: given the previous information on my polydactyly, what do you educated folks think are the chances that I will pass it onto my children? I don't know if I'd be willing to pass on this trait to a child or multiple children if it is in fact a genetic mutation that I possess. And, quite frankly, it is pretty disheartening to know that I may possibly be the carrier of a "bad gene," because I really wanted to have a lot of kids and it kind of feels shitty to be a defective human.

[Robittybob1]

Could there ever be an advantage to have polydactyly?

[Wonder_Wood]

Could there ever be an advantage to have polydactyly?

 

I would imagine that it could be advantageous if it were "done right." That is, the fingers were all anatomically correct and functional without getting in the way of each other. In my case, however, not at all. I just had a weird fleshy sac hanging off of my thumb.

[Robittybob1]

So it doesn't sound very serious really.

[Wonder_Wood]

So it doesn't sound very serious really.

 

It's not serious at all. I still don't want my children to have it though. I'm defective, and I would hate to see my children come out defective too. I'd feel so guilty and I don't think I'd ever be able to get over that.

[Ophiolite]

It is interesting that if you had mentioned your condition in strictly objective medical terms and I had then described you as defective I would have been justifiably censured by the moderator team and the majority of the active members.

 

Less than 20:20 vision arising in childhood is often genetically related. That is a defect.

A propensity for circulatory diseases is often genetic. That is a defect.

 

So - shock, horror - I guess I am defective. And the realisation has come too late not to have children! What should I do?

 

In short, Wonder_Wood, I suppose technically you are defective, but if your only genetic defect is a mildly inconvenient polydactyl condition then you are pretty damn lucky. Go ahead and have your family and join the rest of us defectives who make up 99% of the population. (But on a different topic, why not limit it to two - there are too many homo sapiens on the planet already.)

[John Cuthber]

We are all "defective"* but, as I understand it, polydactyly isn't a strongly heritable trait.

I'd not worry about it on that account.

 

"Defective" in the sense that we all have some sort of fault- my personal obvious ones are that I'm very shortsighted + losing my hair.

[Endy0816]

Sounds like cells mislocated in the womb. In that case it wouldn't be inheritable.

 

I wouldn't worry about it in either case though. Diversity is a good thing for a species. Your particular genotype might have been less fit at one point, but our species has advanced since then in terms of knowledge, technology and values.

[Phi for All]

 

I'm defective, and I would hate to see my children come out defective too. I'd feel so guilty and I don't think I'd ever be able to get over that.

 

Let's think this through.

 

You feel guilty that one or more of your potential children may inherit a defect from you that is treatable and has no impact on a happy lifestyle.

 

Would you end up feeling more guilty someday that you let a remote possibility like this stop you from bringing any children into this world?

 

Have an imaginary conversation with your unborn child, ask them what they think of your decision to protect them from what you've gone through by not having them in the first place.

 

I understand that you feel less than perfect, but I think you're overreacting. Someone who cares this much about it should have a family.

[CharonY]

As others have noted, this is not a serious condition and it is not even that uncommon (I have seen numbers up to 1:500). Other than that, there are various alleles associated with it. That being said, it follows a dominant autosomal inheritance and, from a quick survey of literature appears to be associated with mutations on chromosome 7.

In theses cases the likelihood of inheritance is about 50% (although there are rare forms which do not appear to be that simply regulated, in which inheritance is a bit more complicated).

 

But again, it is not a serious condition and as OP noted, can often be corrected surgically.

[Wonder_Wood]

Thank you, everyone. Now that I think about it, it would be silly to let just the possibility of such a small issue get in the way of producing future children for this world. I'm pretty fortunate, genetically speaking, and I have a lot of other great traits to offer my future kids. Maybe it was just the concept of having a "stain" on what is otherwise a pretty good genetic setup that got to me. Evidently, there's probably some psychological issues in there too Again, thank you guys. You put things into perspective for me.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Wonder_Wood

[Phi for All]

Maybe it was just the concept of having a "stain" on what is otherwise a pretty good genetic setup that got to me.

 

I think you're right. Partly guilt at not being perfect, but mostly concern for your kids even now, before they're born. You'll make a great parent.

[CharonY]

And again, everyone has some sort of defect or another. And many of the invisible ones have a much higher impact on health or life quality.