Congenital Deformities

When children are born with hands that are different from what is functionally normal they are said to have a congenital hand difference. Normal is defined as one thumb, one index finger, one long finger, one ring finger, and one small finger with all of the normal and expected joints of the fingers, hand, and wrist. The arm begins to form between four and eight weeks after conception. As it only takes one mis-step in a series of millions of steps, it is remarkable that more congenital differences are not seen.