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Thursday, December 6, 2012

Eight Surprising Birth Defects

Don’t you worry, not all birth defects bring bad luck, sometimes they can add a little spice and color to life.

Different-colored Eyes

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What do David Bowie, Dan Aykroyd, Kate Bosworth, Jane Seymour, Michael Flatly, Kiefer Sutherland, and Christopher Walken have in common? These well-known celebrities suffer from a rare eye condition known as different colored eyes or heterochromia.

A pigment (melanin) determines one’s eye color and an imbalance distribution of this pigment will result to heterochromia. This eye condition can be hereditary, due to an injury or caused by a disease. There are two kinds of heterochromia of the eye (heterochromia iridum) namely: complete heterochromia and partial or heterochromia. In complete heterochromia(heterochromia iridum),a person has differently colored pupils. While in partial heterochromia (heterochromia iridis), a part of one iris shows a different color from the rest.

Double-Jointedness

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Hypermobility, also referred to as double-jointedness is a condition wherein the joints are unusually flexible. In this case, a person can stretch, rotate or bend a limb beyond its normal range. For example, bending a thumb backwards to the wrist or putting one or both legs behind the head.

This abnormal condition could be the result of a Type 1 colagen deficiency, some misaligned joints or abnormal bone shapes at a joint. Double jointedness is considered a benign condition.In fact, about 10%-15% of children suffered from this condition. However, as one grows older, cartilage, tendons and ligaments and bones harden, thus one becomes less agile. The good thing is, hypermobility requires no treatment.

Webbed Toes

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Webbed toes (syndactyly) is a very common birth defect and is characterized by the joining together (partial or complete) of two or more toes. No one can give a definite explanation why this condition occurs, though it can run in families. Webbed toes affects about 1 in 2,000 births.

Individuals affected by this condition need not worry, you can still perform normal human activity that include; walking, jumping, running or swimming. Also, you should not worry that affected toes will be infected with athletes’ foot. Hollywood celebrities with webbed toes include; Dan Aykroyd, Ashton Kutcher and Tricia Telfer.

Sixth Finger

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Polydactylism or polydactyly is a birth defect in human where the number of fingers or toes exceed the usual number. Usually, the extra finger is a small, soft piece of soft tissue that contains no bone. It is most common on the little finger side of the hand and less common on the thumb side. The condition is reported in about 1 in every 500 children born. In many cases, attending physicians usually remove the extra digit at birth, while complex polydactyly is treated until a child is one year old.

Third Nipple

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Years ago, individuals, specially males, has to bear with society’s ridicules for having a third nipple. But times have change and people begun to treat third nipples as a common birth defect. This extra nipple can occur in the groin area, under the armpit or near the existing nipples. It is reported that at least 1 in18 babies born in UK have a third nipple and as many as 10% of people in the US have an extra nipple Even some celebrities have confessed in public that they have one including Mark Whalberg, Lily Allen, Carrie Underwood, Ken Bruce, Jo Whiley and rumors have it that Anne Boleyn had a third nipple or even a third breast.

Freckles

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Freckles are not harmful or the sign of a health problem. They’re just tan or light brown spots on the skin caused by an excess of the pigment melanin. Freckles usually appear on upper-body skin areas like nose, arms, cheeks on people of fair complexion. They may appear on kids as young as 1 or 2. There are two types of freckles: simple freckles and sunburn freckles. But don’t you worry, freckles tend to fade as people get older.

Dimples

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Dimples are noticeable indention of the skin, created by shortened muscles that appear on some individuals cheeks when they smile. Though it is considered a common birth defect, dimples are often considered attractive. They may appear on both cheeks or in rare cases, a single dimple on one side of the face only. Usually, dimples disappear as facial muscles age and stretch.

Gilbert’s Syndrome

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Gilbert syndrome is a hereditary, harmless and benign condition which does not require treatment. Gilbert syndrome is usually diagnosed around puberty, due to the increased level of bilirubin that cause the skin to appear yellow. Among the causes include; ,fasting, dehydration, menstrual periods, viral infection and stress. Gilbert syndrome is not restricted to any ethnic group and occurs in persons of all races. Studies shows that as many as 1 in 20 people suffer from Gilbert Syndrome where it occurs predominately in men.

29 comments:

  1. The different colored eyes birth defect is disturbing! Webbed toe and 6th finger is common here in our country.

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  2. Interesting! During my brother-in-law's ordination I had different colored eyes, hahaha. Natanggal yung isang contact lens ko. :P

    And I know someone who have a third and a fourth nipple actually. A HS classmate. :)

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  3. I've seen some people with double jointedness and 6 figures and of course, dimples and freckles.

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  4. wow so third nipple actually exist! i encounter many people with sixth finger already more in philippines iguess! xx

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  5. I ddn't know na defect pala ang dimples. I always look at it as something really cute :)

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  6. A few of the celebrities suffered birth defects. Examples are singers Stevie Wonder and Jose Feliciano. Albert Einstien and Isaac Newton too had some birth defects that were mild.

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  7. Very interesting post as always...our bodies are marvelous gifts and being perfectly healthy is wealth. I remember counting my kid's fingers and toes the moment I held them first in my arms...I still would love them no matter how they would have been borne...sometimes nature plays tricks that are beyond comprehension but nevertheless worthwhile and makes a person unique...I know of many who have birth uniqueness that make them extra special and use them to inspire ....salamat uli for a very thought provoking post po, :)

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  8. I think heterochromia is really awesome especially if you have a mixture of green and brown.. not unless if you have that kind of eyes as shown in the picture which is awful.. but if you search for more photos, it is actually cool! :)

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  9. Different eye colors, wow!? Ang nice lang po dito eh yung dimples na kadalasan eh nagiging asset pa ng isang taong meron nito.. Ako nun, gusto ko may dimples ako.. cute kase =)

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  10. I wouldn't mind having the dimples hehehe, I am a big fan of it! The eyes are kind of freaky.

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  11. This is very interesting Kuya! I have known someone with an extra finger and it doesn't bother my friend. It's connected near the thumb area and she always joke that when she approves something, it's always double the thumbs up :)

    Of all the birth defects, I still have not outgrown my freckles. I am thankful it's not on my face but I have it all over my back and hand.

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  12. wow, I haven't seen a different colored eye person before...speaking of double jointed...my daughter is double jointed.

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  13. whoah.. i thought that cats are the only one who have heterochromia...i have freckles under my ear and in my hand. often, it is mistakenly said it is "libag" lol.

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  14. My husband have dimples and even if t's a defect, I find it attractive. :)

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  15. I am familiar with most of these except for the gilbert syndrome. Freckles and dimples are birth defects I find very attractive :D

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  16. I am deffective pala, I have dimples :)

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  17. The yellow eyes Gilbert Syndrome is really creepy.

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  18. I have never seen the 3rd nipple and different colored eye yet.would be happy to see those.

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  19. Wow! I didn't know that Dimples was a birth defects! OMG kung titingnan mo akala mo from hereditary lang sa family. lol

    Its Me Deann

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  20. The only defect that I wished I had were the dimples. LOL! Ang ganda kaya non! Asset! Hahahaha!

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  21. nasa pwet lang yong dimples ko! hahaha thanks for sharing, ngayon ko lang nalaman na it is considered as birth defects na pala yon.

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  22. para mutant lang ah. no pun intended po...

    cute naman yun may dimples... i also know someone na parang ang dami nang joints sa kamay ehehe... and we're very cool with it...

    freckles as what most people call tomtom(tumtum)... haha... mostly appears on people who are mestiza... that's what people tell..

    thanks for this informative post again po papaleng.. :))

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  23. My defect po pala bunso ko kasi she has a dimple but I find it attractive idol,hehe! Katakot po yun iba,hahay!

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  24. My sister is doublejointed and my husband as dimples. I am the only normal person between the three of us - hahaha!

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  25. It would be real scary seeing someone with a different eye color.

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  26. thanks for sharing all these things! i didn't know that dimple is one of it, i always admired people with dimples, for me its beautiful...:) i have a cousin who have sixth finger on his foot, the family thinks its lucky...:)

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  27. Nice article, papa!! I read the title and wondered what you would come up with - very clever...

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  28. speaking of extra finger...according to a friend in high school, an extra finger brings luck to the family. i don't know if its true..or maybe that is only some other people belief.

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