My 1 year old was born with syndactlyly of the toes... well, his second and third toe on his left foot.

I have done all the reading and such on the topic and feel that we'll just keep his "super toe" just as perfect as it was when he was born.

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Anyway, I was wondering if there was anyone around that has the same thing, or their children does as I have a few questions like...

Did you grow up with it, was it traumatic having people see your toe?

Will my husband and I be able to make him comfortable perhaps even proud at his cool toes?

Did it cause any problems? My doctor said it won't but I have read somewhere on this board (post was 2+ years old) that it did cause someone some problems.

Did you have surgery to get it corrected? The surgery looks pretty rough, was it?

Anyway, I hope someone out there can help me with these questions and more. I appologize for not having a picture of the toes... they're fully connected. I don't know if it shares any tendons or whatever but there are two seperate toe bones.

TIA

Jenna

My father was born with amniotic band syndrome, which can cause all kinds of problems, but mainly affected his feet and hands. He had lots of surgery when he was young to correct the problems, mostly on his legs and hands. In essence, all of his toes and fingers were stuck together and pretty short. It's not the same condition, but his feet may be relevant. He didn't have any surgery to separate his toes, so he really only has one semi-"normal" toe that is separate and has a nail.

I don't know much about when he was growing up (since I wasn't around then!), but I know that he was very active. He was on the wrestling and football teams in high school, coached soccer, and ran marathons, and now he is an avid hiker and again coaching soccer. So, in general, having your toes stuck together doesn't affect your ability to participate in sports or live a normal life. I know that his parents encouraged him by reminding him that he could do anything that he wanted to, and he did.

If you don't want to put your child through surgery, don't bother. He can always choose to have surgery later in life if it is something that really bothers him.

I hope that helps!

Kehorner,

That's pretty much what our family doctor said but I've done gone second guessing him again ;) .

He said that you could cut off all but your bit toe and you'd be just fine... but then I was reading (can't find it now, grr) an old post where a lady had the surgery because she was having issues with things like painful callouses...???

I've been under pressure from the day he was born to have the surgery to seperate his toes from family members and such. They insist he will be teased to no ends and that this will bother him terribly. I don't think that will be the case... and they are NOT allowed to make him feel ashamed or the need to hide his toes at all, damnit! Anyway, I thought I'd ask someone who actually has or had syndactlyly and get their opinion... not my mother's :).

I think I'm rambling a bit, plus, company just called and said they were 10 minutes away.... no time to proofread, gotta shove the pile of clean, unfolded clothes into the closet! :nono:

This is just my opinion: I am quite willing to buy the idea that this would not cause any physical problems or restrictions, and so any surgery would be purely elective; however, I doubt very much that you will be able to convince your son (and more importantly, his peers once he is in school) that his "super toe" is "cool." It may well be something he comes to feel embarassed by. And, while I'm not a big proponent of elective surgeries on babies (I agree in most cases they should do or not do whatever it is when they are old enough to chose it for themselves) I would, in your shoes, also consider the possibility that the recovery from such a surgery would be much easier and faster for an infant than for an adult.

Actually, my dad doesn't have big toes, either... He says that's the thing he misses most with his feet. But he still ran the marathon in under 4 hours. :)

Squirelmom,

I was thinking that maybe that if some kid would try to tease him he might just find that confusing as.... nevermind. You're probably right, lol :)

But I do think about my feet when growing up. I had a nasty skin issue that caused cracks all over my feet. I was ever so self conscience and embaressed about it so I never went sockless. So I do know that my son could hide it easily if he wanted. It's really not that big of an issue to hide them either... thanks to the timely invention of "aqua socks" in the 80's.

I pretty sure that we'll let him make up his own mind on whether or not he wants them seperated. I'm unsure as to which age I'll let him decide though. My oldest son seems to make sensible decisions now at 9 yet would agree to a flame thrower burning his freckles off if you asked him. I'm sure I'll figure out when and know his true feelings on his toes.

Kehorner,

Yet another reason I should ask around rather than to simply take the advice of our family doctor... who happens to NOT be a foot specialist :jester: