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

photo link

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

photo link

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

photo link

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

photo link

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

photo link

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

photo link

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

photo link

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

photo link

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.