Of course, it's very worrying and stressful when your child is born with something unusual and unexpected such as extra toes, but in most cases this isn't actually very significant in terms of general health and may not need any specific treatment.

Polydactyly

Having extra fingers or toes is known as polydactyly. The toes and fingers may be fully formed and look just like the others (in which case they're usually surprisingly inconspicuous) or they may be no more than little fleshy stumps.

Polydactyly affects about five babies in every 10,000 born. It may run in families - if both parents have it there's a one in two chance that their children will be affected. But it may also occur out of the blue. If your child doesn't have any other problems then it's of no risk to the child's physical or mental development, and it's best played down as much as possible, at least during childhood.

When your child is a teenager, worried like all their friends about their appearance, it may become an issue. Then extra counselling may help him to get it into perspective (as will a sensible, supportive attitude from his parents). I have a patient with extra toes, fused to her little toes, and she's so proud of them that she has had a little flower tattooed on each - not everyone's reaction, I'm sure, but it's a positive attitude.

Very occasionally polydactyly is part of an inherited condition such as Laurence-Moon-Bardet-Biedl syndrome (a rare and complicated disorder), but your paediatrician should have checked for any other abnormalities which would indicate this.

Footwear may be a problem

There's one situation in which surgery may be necessary. This is when an extra toe causes a lot of problems with getting shoes to fit, and removing the extra toe may be the best solution.

Clothing was also an issue with one of the most famous people to have polydactyly - Anne Boleyn (second wife of Henry VIII). She changed the fashion for sleeves at the time to hide her extra finger. But there are probably other people in the public eye with polydactyly who don't draw attention to it.

This article was last medically reviewed by Dr Trisha Macnair in June 2008