Adermatoglyphia in the Era of Biometrics

Sir,

The term 'dermatoglyphics' was coined by Cummins and Midlo in 1926, rooting from the combination of two words of ancient Greek origin, namely, 'derma' for skin and 'glyphos' for carvings.[1] It is the scientific study of intricate integumentary ridge patterns that form on mainly the fingertips but also on the toes, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. These naturally occurring patterns are believed to be unique to an individual and remain unchanged from birth until death. Dermatoglyphics are of immense importance in medicine, forensics, anthropology, and for security purpose of a country/state.

Biometric method using fingerprinting (dactylography) is the most used and the least complicated method for human identification and authentication. It is an integral component of a personal profile and biodata in the modern world.

Adermatoglyphia is defined clinically as the congenital or an acquired loss of the epidermal ridge pattern.[2] Congenital adermatoglyphia has been referred to as 'immigration delay disease' by Professor Peter Itin after his first patient had trouble traveling to the USA without any fingerprints for identification.[3] In 2007, a Swiss woman was denied entry into the USA because she had no fingerprints.[4] Similar issue was reported in Benue state, Nigeria, where a Christian pilgrim was denied the e-passport by the Nigerian immigration authority.[5]

In this correspondence, we would like to draw attention to the obstacles faced by patients suffering from adermatoglyphia while facing a mandatory biometric fingerprinting procedure, as alternative methods of identification, authentication, and verification are not readily available.

Adermatoglyphia can be limited to a few digits or can affect all fingers. In partial adermatoglyphia, there is a partial loss of the ridges, i.e., ridges are unnoticeable on naked eye inspection but can be demonstrated under a magnifying device. In complete adermatoglyphia, there is a complete absence depicting total effacement of epidermal ridges.

The epidermal ridges usually develop around 17 weeks in utero and coincide with the regression of embryonic volar pads on the fingers, palms, and soles.[6] Their formation is influenced by multiple genetic and environmental factors. Loss of fingerprints can be congenital or acquired. The congenital form can be part of a complex syndrome or more rarely present as an isolated finding. The isolated congenital cases usually have a point mutation in the splice site of a 3' exon of the gene for SMARCAD1-helicase at chromosome 4q22 and is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner.[7]

Other congenital syndromes associated with loss of dermatoglyphics are Basans syndrome, Naegeli–Franceschetti–Jadassohn syndrome, Dermatopathi apigmentosa reticularis, Reticulate acropigmentation of Kitamura, Rothmund–Thomson syndrome, and Dyschromatosis universalis hereditaria.[8]

Acquired loss of dermatoglyphics can be because of dermatological or non-dermatological causes. Dermatological conditions such as eczemas (e.g., contact dermatitis and atopic dermatitis), blistering diseases (e.g., epidermolysisbullosa, pemphigus vulgaris, Steven Johnson syndrome, and toxic epidermal necrolysis), and disorders of keratinization (e.g., psoriasis, keratoderma blennorrhagica) or infections (e.g., palmar warts, leprosy, and Tinea manuum) can be responsible for acquired loss of dermatoglyphics in a few digits or in all fingers. Non-dermatological causes of acquired adermatoglyphia include trauma, burns, and amputations. Potent corticosteroids can cause epidermal ridge atrophy.[9] In recent years, capecitabine-induced adermatoglyphia has resulted in immigration delays at airports and travel warnings for patients undergoing capecitabine chemotherapy.[10]

Primary adermatoglyphia is extremely uncommon. Data from the Lebanese Ministry of Internal Affairs of the people applying for biometric identity cards showed 0.18% had no fingerprints with a female predominance and an increased incidence in the aging population. A total of 137 of these 259 were noted as having a dermatologic condition resulting in adermatoglyphia, with the others falling into four other categories of loss: burns, amputations, dystonia, and wounds.[11]

During the past few decades, biometric verification, involving fingerprinting, has become mandatory and stringent in many situations, such as in the immigrations, office attendances, bank account verification, granting citizenship, driver's licenses, passports, etc., However, there is a complete absence of scientific guidelines or a protocol for adermatoglyphia patients undergoing a mandatory fingerprint verification. Through this communication, we would like to draw attention of our fraternity colleagues and researchers to give due consideration to this aspect and help evolving mechanism in the development of structured and scientific alternate method for identification of persons with absence of epidermal ridges. We urge the administration needs to keep this issue into consideration and consider retina scan as mandatory and fingerprint scan as an optional method of identification.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.