Amputated fingertips sometimes grow back (2013)

I chopped off around 3-4mm off the tip of my left index finger as a kid with a lawn trimmer. 20 years later, I punched a nice groove around 3mm deep into the tip of another finger tip while trying to get tea out of a tea tube [0] (don&#x27;t buy these things).<p>It took weeks, but both times, the tips grew back perfectly round and smooth, <i>even the fingerprints</i> are back. The regrown tips felt a bit numb for 1-2 months, but then everything was back to normal. The second time I asked a friend, who is a medical doctor, how the body &quot;knew&quot; the form of the fingertip and the fingerprints. Where was this information stored? His answer was basically: we have no idea, just be grateful it works.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hochland-kaffee.de&#x2F;media&#x2F;catalog&#x2F;product&#x2F;cache&#x2F;1&#x2F;thumbnail&#x2F;600x600&#x2F;9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95&#x2F;5&#x2F;1&#x2F;514150_xl.png" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hochland-kaffee.de&#x2F;media&#x2F;catalog&#x2F;product&#x2F;cache&#x2F;1...</a>

My 3yo daughter got a blood clot in her thumb that caused the entire tip above the last knuckle to get purple, then black, then essentially die off due to lack of blood flow.<p>She was in the hospital for something different at the time so doctors were able to watch it closely. It looked really bad: blackish grey and stiff like she had gotten frostbite.<p>The hand specialists warned us that amputation might be necessary if it gets infected, but said ideally they just &quot;wait and see.&quot;<p>Sure enough, three weeks later they were able to literally just pull off the dead part and find a new thumb growing underneath!<p>Here are before and after photos: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;S8hlhKz" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;S8hlhKz</a> WARNING: GRAPHIC

True statement. I lost a finger tip in a mandolin making potatoes lyonnaise. It mostly grew back. However, it has never felt the same. It&#x27;s like the nerve endings in the finger tip throw unhandled exceptions. Some say properly cooked french food is worth it. i agree.

I chopped off the tip of my index finger about 20 years ago and then got it sewn back on. Another dude I was working with did the same and didn’t get it sewn back on. Four years later, his was good as new, and mine was healed but I couldn’t press on it without a lot of pain. I had to give up playing the guitar, and still can’t press on the strings. Typing is a little bit weird because I can’t feel the keys, and I end up in slightly wrong positions because you’re supposed to be able to feel the little nubs on the home row.

Whenever there&#x27;s a post about regeneration, I always refer people to this amazing TED talk.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;XheAMrS8Q1c" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;XheAMrS8Q1c</a>

Bone fracture healing is also, exactly, regeneration. Regeneration of fingertips in small children is almost universal, <i>provided you don&#x27;t stitch it up</i>.<p>George Becker&#x27;s book &quot;The Body Electric&quot; is the most complete exploration of regeneration I have encountered to date. Becker&#x27;s suspicion was that we gave up general regeneration in exchange for cancer resistance.<p>Updates welcome! TBE deserves follow-up.

The body never forgot how to regenerate, it just learned how to scar - to prevent infection - or at least that is what I heard a wake forest researcher say after helping grow back a finger with stem cells from the individual and powdered proteins from a decelled pig&#x27;s bladder.<p>Edit: the individual was in his 50s

Almost exactly a year ago I cut a 45 degree chunk off my thumb (box cutter working with drywall...). Straight cut, thumb looked like &quot;Gumby&quot;.<p>A year later you&#x27;d never be able to tell, rounded again with fingerprints as well. Quite amazing given I&#x27;m middle aged.

This is one of my favorite weird biological facts. It actually happened to a friend of mine. It shows that the programming for regeneration is in there, we just need to activate it.

Got infection under fingernail. Turned purple, swelled up like a grape. Got hard and calloused. Then one day it emitted vile stuff from under the fingernail, deflated. A couple days later, callous fell off. Fingertip underneath was half-width but complete. Over next year, the other half grew back - fingertip got a little wider over time until it&#x27;s the right width.<p>Now I can&#x27;t quite remember which one it was - they are all the same and unscarred.

&gt; The signal made by the nail stem cells — called Wnt, for all you bio buffs — can orchestrate growth all over the body. It even coordinates the formation of limbs and some organs during fetal development.<p>Lizards do it with Wnt<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;28233575&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;28233575&#x2F;</a><p>Presumably it&#x27;s only a matter of time before the penis enlargement industry discovers Wnt.

I wonder what would happen to my right pinkie. When I was young I accidentally burned the fingerprint off on a curling iron. It&#x27;s not a large section and there&#x27;s no scar tissue, just a spot on my pinkie which looks more mosaic than swirly.<p>It&#x27;s been that way most of my life as it happened when I was a single digit age.<p>If it would grow back, it <i>should</i> grow back with the original fingerprint.

Isn&#x27;t the more fascinating element of this story the lack of medical understanding regarding what seems like a fairly well-understood body part (a fingertip)? How much knowledge could be gained simply be seeking seemingly minor examples beyond current understanding, even in the absence of financial incentive to explore?

Three more anecdotes here: my mother, uncle, and wife chopped off the tips of their fingers (him doing farm work, them chopping food) and had them grow back. The article talks about kids, but the former two were in their 40s and the latter in her 20s at the time.

Did anybody pick up on how the fingerprint doesn&#x27;t come back? I wonder why that is.

Not exactly the tip, but I sliced a good 1&#x2F;8&quot; or so off my thumb print once with a table saw. I was very impressed that my thumbprint mostly grew back, except for some scar pattern in the middle.

I am certain that like 30% of my small toe grew back somehow, so good I cant even tell which one at this point.<p>Literally half of my nail was away with a flat surface above. Don&#x27;t drive a fast scooter in flip flops!