Distribution of Hairs on the Phalanges of Hands among Ghanaians

Aim. The study intended to observe the frequency and pattern of distribution of phalangeal hairs on the hands of Ghanaians. Material and Methods. A total of 1040 healthy consenting individuals (529 females and 511 males) aged between 18 and 45 years were randomly selected from the University of Cape Coast Community. Presence or absence of phalangeal hairs was observed with the aid of a pocket lens. Results. Hairs were observed on the proximal phalanges of 98.24% of the males and 96.22% of the females. The most common hair pattern observed on the proximal digits was 2-3-4-5 (65.95% males and 70.32% females). The highest frequency of midphalangeal hairs occurred in the group with hair on the 4th digit alone (3.33% males and 2.27% females) followed by the 3-4-5 group (2.54% males and 1.89% females). Conclusion. Females have lower frequency of phalangeal hairs than males. The outcome of this study may be significant medicolegally and in anthropological racial and gender studies. 1. Introduction The hair is an epidermal derivative of the skin which offers protection against mechanical injury in mammals. It is of great interest to clinicians and biomedical scientists because of its many useful biological functions, including dispersion of sweat gland products [1]. Hair has accompanied human development since antiquity as a symbol of power, dominance, and strength [2] and has been seen as a thing of beauty and a tool for sexual communication [3]. The study of body hair distribution has attracted the interest of anthropologists for ages. Of particular interest is phalangeal hair distribution. Danforth [4] pioneered the study of distribution of hairs on the digits of humans and suggested genetic influence. Since then, many investigators have studied phalangeal hair distribution on the basis of gender, race, and ethnicity [5–9]. Such studies have shown that most individuals have hair on the proximal phalanges, while few people in a population have hairs on the middle phalanges. Complete absence of hairs on the middigits of hand is a recessive trait [10], and inheritance of the gene responsible for phalangeal hair growth and distributions is done in Mendelian fashion [11]. The presence or absence of hairs on middle phalanges is controlled by a single allelic gene, and Bernstein and Burks [11] have hypothesized five pairs of alleles ( , , , , and ) with subscripts representing the digits staring from the thumb. As a result, middigital hair has been used to demonstrate basic genetics, an idea which is opposed by McDonald [12]. In their review of the literature on