The skin on the fingertips and palmar and plantar surfaces of man is not smooth. It is grooved by curious ridges, which form a variety of configurations. These ridge configurations have attracted the atยญ tention of laymen for millenia. They have also evoked the serious interest of scientists for more than three centuries. The anatomist Bidloo provided a description of ridge detail in the seventeenth cenยญ tury. Since then, additional information has been added by anthroยญ pologists, biologists, and geneticists. For the last century, the fact that each individual's ridge configurations are unique has been utiยญ lized as a means of personal identification especially by law enforceยญ ment officials. Widespread medical interest in epidermal ridges deยญ veloped only in the last several decades when it became apparent that many patients with chromosomal aberrations had unusual ridge formations. Inspection of skin ridges, therefore, promised to provide a simple, inexpensive means for determining whether a given patient had a particular chromosomal defect. However, the promise was only partially fulfilled because of the inherent variability of skin ridge configurations. It was possible to draw conclusions about ridge abยญ normalities in groups of patients but not always in a given individual. Patients and clinicians became somewhat disenchanted with the clinical value of studying ridges
CONTENT
1 Embryogenesis and Genetics of Epidermal Ridges -- 2 Methods of Recording Dermatoglyphics -- Standard Methods -- Special Methods -- 3 Dermatoglyphic Pattern Configurations -- Ridge Detail (Minutiae) -- Pattern Configurations -- Quantitative Analysis -- Dermatoglyphic Topology -- Frequency of Dermatoglyphic Traits in Normal Populations -- 4 Congenital Malformations of Dermatoglyphics -- Ridge Aplasia -- Ridge Hypoplasia -- Ridge Dissociation -- โ{128}{156}Ridges-off-the-endโ{128}{157} -- 5 Flexion Creases -- Embryology of Flexion Creases -- Classification of Palmar Flexion Creases -- Plantar Flexion Creases -- White Lines -- 6 Medical Disorders with Associated Dermatoglyphic Abnormalities -- Congenital Malformations of Hands and Feet -- Autosomal Trisomies -- Aberrations of Sex Chromosomes -- Triploidy -- Structural Chromosomal Aberrations -- Single-Gene Disorders and Disorders with Uncertain Genetic Transmission -- Nongenetic and Exogenous Factors
