Humans are born with different traits, personalities, and habits. Even their physical appearances aren’t the same. However, no matter how unique people are, some are born to stand out among us. These people possess extraordinary characteristics that result from genetic anomalies.
From people born with extra fingers to those born with missing body parts, here are 53 people who were blessed with unique features that make them extra special.
1. Strange genetic coincidence?
Here’s an interesting case. This person’s father had the tip of their finger cut off when they were ten-years-old. When he had a child, the child was born with an abnormally short index finger. Strange coincidence? Or did it somehow pass through genetics?
This person was 11-years-old when they woke up one morning and noticed half of their bottom and top eyelashes had turned white. The condition is called Vitiligo and happens when your immune system is weakened in a certain area causing a loss of pigment.
Here’s a gentleman who happens to only have freckles on one half of his face. “It’s a very specific type of birth mark which started when you were an embryo,” dermatologist Dr. Sonia Batra told another woman who had the same condition. “And the pigment cells in your neural crest, some of them actually developed a mutation or a change and as the cells migrated over, it actually effects only half the body. ‘That’s why there’s such a sharp cut off.”
This person has only four fingers on their left hand, and instead of a thumb, it’s an index finger. It’s called symbrachydactyly and it’s a condition where a baby’s hand is underdeveloped in the womb. Some people have very small fingers, or in this case, missing one altogether.
This person was born without a fingernail on her right pointer finger. They clearly have a sense of humor about it and decided to put some googly eyes on it. The condition is called anonychia congenita and most people who have it are born without fingernails or toenails. However, for some people, like in this case, they are only missing one or partial nails are missing.
This person has a syndrome that is so rare, less than 100 cases have been identified in human history. It’s called ulnar dimelia and it’s a congenital deformity where there is no thumb, the ulna is duplicated, and there are either seven or eight fingers on the hand.
Some of us dream of having different colored eyes than what we were born with. Those with light-colored eyes usually want dark eyes and vice versa. Well, this person happens to have both. This person has heterochromia iridis, a genetic variation that causes multi-colored irises.
This little baby was born with 12 fingers and 12 toes. It’s a condition called polydactyly. The feet and hands are proportionate, they just happen to have one extra digit on each hand and foot.
This person can grab things ‘backwards’ thanks to being “double-jointed.” People who are double-jointed don’t actually have two joints, however, their joints can move beyond their normal range. Also known as hypermobility.
This baby was born with Stahl’s ear, or as some like to call it, ‘Spock’s ear.’ It’s a deformity of the ear where extra cartilage creates a pointy ear shape. If found in the first few weeks of life, ear molding can correct it.
A hair whorl is a patch of hair that grows in a circular direction. This young boy happens to have two of them located symmetrically on the back of his head. There has been research to see if hair whorl direction is correlated with handedness, but nothing conclusive has been found.
Here’s another person that uses a sense of humor when it comes to their genetics. “I was born ready for this,” they said. This person was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome in which they only have a pinky and a thumb with the rest of their fingers barely formed.
This person seems to have born with one thumb from their mom and the other from their dad. This is just a straight case of pulling a genetic blueprint from each parent and, in this case, genes that formed the hands came from both parents.
“My dad has 6 fingers on each hand. He uses 2 fingers to flip someone off,” said the Reddit user that shared this photo. Polydactyly runs in this family and both the dad and son were born with 6 fingers and 6 toes, although the son had his removed when he was young.
This baby was born with the same exact birthmark in her hair as her mom. This condition is poliosis in which there is an absence of melanin in this specific area of her body. It can either be inherited or caused by an autoimmune condition.
Macrodactyly is a rare condition in which your pinky finger is the largest finger. Although the exact cause is not known, some believe that it comes from abnormal nerve or blood supply in the finger.
This baby was born with a perfect number two on her head. The layout of the veins in her head have caused this unique sort of birthmark. She was the first child and her parents joke that she had a twin but ate her.
This person was born with what’s called a cleft hand also known as ectrodactyly or split hand. It occurs when the middle of the hand develops abnormally. Out of all babies, around 10% are born with some sort of hand deformation.
This woman was born with a condition called trigger finger. The tendon of the finger becomes swollen and ‘locks’ which has caused her right thumb to become unable to move. This condition is found in 3.3 per 1000 live births.
Here’s an interesting condition where a dark streak of hair appeared seemingly out of nowhere. A white or light streak is called poliosis which is a lack of melanin. This, however, is increased melanin and is a type of birthmark.
All of us have lines on our palms. Lots of times they’re used to ‘read fortunes.’ This person, however, has a hard crease along the center of their palm.
This isn’t necessarily a genetic trait, but it sure is interesting. They had internally bruised their finger and when held up to the light, you could see the pooling of blood in their finger. Wondering why you can’t see bones? It’s because the skin and flesh diffuse the light. Much like looking through a pane of frosted glass.
This young boy was born with a depressed, or seemingly missing, bridge of this nose. This is usually caused by congenital syndromes such as cleidocranial dysplasia, children with neurodevelopmental delay, achondroplasia, Conradi-Hünermann-Happle syndrome, Cornelia de Lange syndrome, osteogenesis imperfecta, and Klippel-Feil syndrome.
Most of us get pruney or wrinkly hands and feet after being submerged in water for a period of time. The theory of why this happens is that back when we were gatherers, it was easier to pick up vegetation in wet conditions and helped prevent us from slipping. This person with extra wrinkly hands might have ancestors that lived in these types of conditions.
“The person in the photo above has all five functioning fingers except for one peculiarity – there’s no thumb on the hand. This malformation is referred to as triphalangeal thumb where the thumb has three phalanges instead of two. It can be treated with reconstructive surgery by reshaping the finger so that it would operate like a thumb. It is estimated that approximately one in 25,000 children is born with the condition,” says Bored Panda.
Here are two co-workers that discovered that one of them had six toes while the other only had four! Having six toes is actually a very common birth defect and is usually harmless, although they can usually be easily removed if needed.
This might look like something out of a sci-fi film but it’s very real. These are called fimbriated folds of the tongue or plica frimbriata. This happens when the folds under the tongue have growths or skin tags. They aren’t dangerous, however, they can become stuck in between teeth.
Syndactyly, commonly known as webbed-toes, can actually occur in both fingers and toes. The condition is common in animals but rarer in humans. Technically, 1 in 2,500 births will have some sort of syndactyly. These two women celebrated their common traits with a funny tattoo.
Here’s a case where a person was born with macular pucker. It’s a scar tissue that formed in the eyes’ macula which is found in the retina. This condition can cause blurred or distorted vision since this part of the eye gives us sharp vision. It occurs when the vitreous of the eye pulls away from the retina.
Baby Edam was once thought to have the darkest skin in the world, but model Khoudia Diop is also known to have some of the darkest skin. Her nickname is the “Melanin Goddess.”
This man’s one finger reacts very interestingly to extreme temperatures. When his hands get cold, his one finger turns to a ghostly pale color due to a lack of circulation.
This little girl’s name is Ava Clarke. She’s a model and actress and has caught the attention of people around the world for her unique and beautiful look which is caused by albinism.
This is Baby Edam obviously no longer a baby. He was born with the ‘darkest skin in the world.’ He’s now six years old and still has his deep, dark-colored skin. When he was first born, his photo went viral and caught the attention of people around the world.
This is bodybuilder and model Ia Östergren. Her legs are very disproportionate to the rest of her body giving her a very unique look. She’s 5’8″ and her legs are 3’5″.
This is another person that doesn’t necessarily have unique genetics but she certainly has a unique arm. Her arm is bionic and she’s able to charge it wherever she goes. The future is here!
This man was born with a condition called anisocoria. It means that one of his pupils fluctuates and functions normally, while the other remains in a fixed position.
Vitiligo is a condition in which there is a lack of pigment in one area or a spread out area of the body. This black women has vitiligo over a large portion of her body giving her a very unique and beautiful look.
“Albinism is a genetic condition where people are born without the usual pigment (color) in their bodies. Their bodies aren’t able to make a normal amount of melanin, the chemical that is responsible for eye, skin, and hair color. So most people with albinism have very pale skin, hair, and eyes,” says Kids Health.
When people have eyes that each have a different color, it’s known as heterochromia iridum. It’s actually quite a common condition in which there are 200,000 people born in the US each year with multi-colored eyes.
Known as polymelia, it’s a condition where the body has grown extra limbs. It’s extremely rare and very dangerous. Sometimes it can start as a conjoined twin that never fully developed, however, this is not always the case.
According to Genetics Home Reference, “Proteus syndrome is a rare condition characterized by overgrowth of the bones, skin, and other tissues. Organs and tissues affected by the disease grow out of proportion to the rest of the body. The overgrowth is usually asymmetric, which means it affects the right and left sides of the body differently.”
Julia Gnuse struggles with a condition called porphyria, a disease in which the slightest bit of sunlight causes burns on the skin. She’s decided to cover her entire body in tattoos.
Commonly known as ‘lobster claw hand’ or ‘split hand formation,’ people born with this condition have a cleft where their middle fingers or toes would normally be. This genetic malfunction generally happens when there are some deletions, translocation, and inversions in chromosome 7.
This person has a condition known as dermatographism. According to Cleveland Clinic, “Dermatographism is a common, benign skin condition. People who have this condition develop welts or a localized hive-like reaction when they scratch their skin. It can also happen when the skin is exposed to pressure or rubbing. This condition is also called skin writing, dermographia, or dermatographicurticaria.”
This person needed to have their eye removed due to genetic degradation. Their ocularist gave them this super unique looking prosthetic as a gift. Definitely a one-of-a-kind conversation starter.
Much like the case shown earlier, here’s another woman with, not one, but two thumbs that have the condition called trigger finger. This makes both of her thumbs unable to bend. Notice the lack of crease lines.
Here’s a very unique and rare condition called ‘cat eye syndrome’ which gives the pupils an abnormal shape that look very much like cats’ eyes which is a chromosomal disorder. This beautiful little boy is from Nepal.
This is Hamad Jaman and his freckles have given him a career in modeling because of his unique look. You can see why–he’s absolutely stunning to look at!
Believe it or not–these two little girls are identical twins. There is very complex genetic work behind this type of scenario but these two girls came from the same egg while looking very different from each other.
If you have a lock of white hair that bleeds into the skin, you probably have a condition known as piebaldism. It’s a rare genetic condition in which the person is missing cells called melanocytes. It causes a patch of white skin to appear, usually on the forehead, along with hair.
Also known as a chin dimple, a cleft chin causes a y-shaped fissured on the chin with an underlying bone abnormality. It’s a very common genetic mutation that many celebrities including Jude Law, John Travolta, Adele, and others have.
53 beautiful people whose genetics make them especially unique
Rozzette Cabrera
01.25.21
Humans are born with different traits, personalities, and habits. Even their physical appearances aren’t the same. However, no matter how unique people are, some are born to stand out among us. These people possess extraordinary characteristics that result from genetic anomalies.
From people born with extra fingers to those born with missing body parts, here are 53 people who were blessed with unique features that make them extra special.
