Hollywood actress Megan Fox is gorgeous from head to toe - and she does not hide what some would call an imperfection.
Voted the world's sexiest woman by FHM magazine readers last year, the Transformers movie star has recently been seen in photographs with an unusually large thumb.
She has a clubbed thumb, which is typically broader and shorter than a normal thumb. If not severe, as in Ms Fox's case, the affected person usually lives with it.
A clubbed thumb is a type of brachydactyly. 'Brachy' is Greek for short and 'dactyl' refers to the digit (finger).
'It is characterised by the tip bone of the thumb being broad and short,' said Dr Tay Shian Chao, a consultant at the department of hand surgery at Singapore General Hospital.
Its occurrence varies in different populations, ranging from 0.41 per cent to 4 per cent, said Dr Alphonsus Chong, a consultant at the department of hand and reconstructive microsurgery at the National University Hospital.
Doctors say this condition is congenital, which means that a person is born with it. Females are more likely to have this condition if they have the defective gene, compared to males.
Less commonly, the condition may be caused by severe frostbite or other forms of trauma which causes premature closure of the growth plate of the furthest bone in the thumb.
Dr Tay said the degree of impairment, if any, depends on how short the thumb is. If this is mild, it is seen as merely a cosmetic defect. Only when it is very short is its use affected in everyday situations, in which case reconstructive surgery may be required.
Some people with clubbed thumbs may also have the same condition in their toes or other fingers.
Other common types of hand deformities are polydactyly (having extra fingers) and syndactyly (completely or incompletely fused fingers).
However, Dr Chong noted that while brachydactyly is more common, more often, it is people with polydactyly or syndactyly who seek surgical treatment as they are more likely to have functional problems.
