The world is an incredible and special place. Every person and creature is unique enough that you can never find anyone else just like you. We’re not just talking about personalities and experiences either since everyone can look different too!
It all comes down to genetics
Even siblings in the same family, you can have siblings with different shades of hair, different colored eyes, and different skin tones even if they’re born within a year or two!
The people on this list have genetic make-ups that give them incredible appearances that you would never expect to see in real life. Enjoy reading about these one-of-a-kind humans.
1) Gigantism
Being really tall might be caused by Gigantism. It’s a condition that can lead to a lot of medical issues, illnesses, and death. But models like Elisany da Cruz Silva make a career of their big size.
Cleft chins are y-shaped fissures on your chin that can be caused with bone abnormalities. These chins are also known as chin dimples because they are considered cute or appealing to many people. It’s a lot more common than you think and has affected several celebs including Jude Law, John Travolta, Adele, and others have.
No, these aren’t contacts. This is an example of Ocular Albinism.
“Ocular albinism, a rare genetic condition, affects only the eyes, causing pigment to disappear from the iris. When we see children from a primarily dark-eyed family having blue or green eyes, they are most likely ocular albinos,” says Brightside.
You might have heard about this one and thought about it as a ‘skunk stripe’. But it’s actually piebaldism, a rare genetic condition. This condition in which the person is missing cells called melanocytes. It causes a patch of white skin to appear, usually on the forehead, along with hair.
You might think otherwise, but these two girls are identical twins. Due to complex genetics, these girls come from the same egg but look quite different from one another. But you can still see the similarities in their faces.
“It’s a very specific type of birth mark which started when you were an embryo, And the pigment cells in your neural crest, some of them actually developed a mutation or a change and as the cells migrated over, it actually effects only half the body. ‘That’s why there’s such a sharp cut off.”
This person has a condition known as Vitiligo. Vitiligo is when your immune system is weakened in a certain area causing a loss of pigment. was 11-years-old when they woke up one morning and noticed half of their bottom and top eyelashes had turned white.
Here’s an interesting case. This person’s father had the tip of their finger cut off when they were ten-years-old. But did you know his child was born with an abnormally small index finger? Coincidence or genetics?
This person can grab things ‘backwards’ thanks to being “double jointed.” People who are double jointed don’t actually have two joints, however, their joints can move beyond their normal range. Also known as hypermobility.
Here’s an interesting condition where a dark streak of hair appeared seemingly out of nowhere. White or light streaks are called poliosis which is caused by a lack of melanin. This, however, is increased melanin and is a type of birthmark.
This person was born with ectrodactyly, also known as a cleft hand or a split hand. Ot causes the middle of the hand to develop abnormally making this hand deformation. Did you know that around 10% of babies are born with hand deformations?
This woman was born with a condition called trigger finger. The tendon of the finger becomes swollen and ‘locks’ which has caused her right thumb to become unable to move. This condition is found in 3.3 per 1000 live births.
Do you see the perfect number two on this babies head? The layout of her veins caused her to have a unique birthmark. But what makes it amusing is that she was the first child, so her parents joke that she was a twin who ate her sibling. Talk about sibling rivalry!
14) Large pinky
Macrodactyly is a rare condition in which your pinky finger is the largest finger. Although the exact cause is not known, some believe that it comes from abnormal nerve or blood supply in the finger.
This little baby was born with 12 fingers and 12 toes. It’s a condition called polydactyly. The feet and hands are proportionate, they just happen to have one extra digit on each hand and foot.
This baby was born with the same exact birthmark in her hair as her mom. This condition is poliosis in which there is an absence of melanin in this specific area of her body. It can either be inherited or caused by an autoimmune condition.
“My dad has 6 fingers on each hand. He uses 2 fingers to flip someone off,”
The Reddit user that shared this photo explains that Polydactyly runs in this family and both the dad and son were born with 6 fingers and 6 toes, although the son had his removed when he was young.
In what we can only call a literal soup mix of genetics, this person had the thumb of their mother and a different thumb resembling their fathers. Usually thumbs and genetic make-up come from one of the two parents, but this child is made up with both.
Here’s another person that uses a sense of humor when it comes to their genetics. “I was born ready for this,” they said. This person was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome in which they only have a pinky and a thumb with the rest of their fingers barely formed.
Here’s a case where a person was born with macular pucker. It’s a scar tissue that formed in the eyes’ macula which is found in the retina. This condition can cause blurred or distorted vision since this part of the eye gives us sharp vision. It occurs when the vitreous of the eye pulls away from the retina.
A hair whorl is a patch of hair that grows in a circular direction. This young boy happens to have two of them located symmetrically on the back of his head. There has been research to see if hair whorl direction is correlated with handedness, but nothing conclusive has been found.
Syndactyly, commonly known as webbed-toes, can actually occur in both fingers and toes. The condition is common in animals but more rare in humans. Technically, 1 in 2,500 births will have some sort of syndactyly. These two women celebrated their common trait with a funny tattoo.
This might look like something out of a sci-fi film but it’s very real. These are called fimbriated folds of the tongue or plica frimbriata. This happens when the folds under the tongue have growths or skin tags. They aren’t dangerous, however, they can become stuck in between teeth.
Here are two co-workers that discovered that one of them had six toes while the other only had four! Having six toes is actually a very common birth defect and is usually harmless, although they can usually be easily removed if needed.
“The person in the photo above has all five functioning fingers except for one peculiarity – there’s no thumb on the hand. This malformation is referred to as triphalangeal thumb where the thumb has three phalanges instead of two. It can be treated with reconstructive surgery by reshaping the finger so that it would operate like a thumb. It is estimated that approximately one in 25,000 children is born with the condition,” says Bored Panda.
This young boy was born with a depressed, or seemingly missing, bridge of this nose. This is usually caused by congenital syndromes such as cleidocranial dysplasia, children with neurodevelopmental delay, achondroplasia, Conradi-Hünermann-Happle syndrome, Cornelia de Lange syndrome, osteogenesis imperfecta and Klippel-Feil syndrome.
Most of us get pruney or wrinkly hands and feet after being submerged in water for a period of time. The theory of why this happens is that back when we were gatherers, it was easier to pick up vegetation in wet conditions and helped prevent us from slipping. This person with extra wrinkly hands might have ancestors that lived in these types of conditions.
This isn’t necessarily a genetic trait, but it sure is interesting. They had internally bruised their finger and when held up to the light, you could see the pooling of blood in their finger. Wondering why you can’t see bones? It’s because the skin and flesh diffuse the light. Much like looking through a pane of frosted glass.
All of us have lines on our palms. Lots of times they’re used to ‘read fortunes.’ This person, however, has a hard crease along the center of their palm.
“Albinism is a genetic condition where people are born without the usual pigment (color) in their bodies. Their bodies aren’t able to make a normal amount of melanin, the chemical that is responsible for eye, skin, and hair color. So most people with albinism have very pale skin, hair, and eyes,” says Kids Health.
Vitiligo is a condition in which there is a lack of pigment in one area or a spread out area of the body. This black women has vitiligo over a large portion of her body giving her a very unique and beautiful look.
This man was born with a condition called anisocoria. It means that one of his pupils fluctuates and functions normally, while the other remains in a fixed position.
This is another person that doesn’t necessarily have unique genetics but she certainly has a unique arm. Her arm is bionic and she’s able to charge it wherever she goes. The future is here!
This is Baby Edam obviously no longer a baby. He was born with the ‘darkest skin in the world.’ He’s now six years old and still has his deep, dark-colored skin. When he was first born, his photo went viral and caught the attention of people around the world.
This is bodybuilder and model Ia Östergren. Her legs are very disproportionate to the rest of her body giving her a very unique look. She’s 5’8″ and her legs are 3’5″.
This little girl’s name is Ava Clarke. She’s a model and actress and has caught the attention of people around the world for her unique and beautiful look which is caused by albinism.
This man’s one finger reacts very interestingly to extreme temperatures. When his hands get cold, his one finger turns to a ghostly pale color due to a lack of circulation.
This is Hamad Jaman and his freckles have given him a career in modeling because of his unique look. You can see why–he’s absolutely stunning to look at!
Baby Edam was once thought to have the darkest skin in the world, but model Khoudia Diop is also known to have some of the darkest skin. Her nickname is the “Melanin Goddess.”
Here’s a very unique and rare condition called ‘cat eye syndrome’ which gives the pupils an abnormal shape that look very much like cats’ eyes which is a chromosomal disorder. This beautiful little boy is from Nepal.
Much like the case shown earlier, here’s another woman with, not one, but two thumbs that have the condition called trigger finger. This makes both of her thumbs unable to bend. Notice the lack of crease lines.
This person needed to have their eye removed due to genetic degradation. Their ocularist gave them this super unique looking prosthetic as a gift. Definitely a one-of-a-kind conversation starter.
This person has a condition known as dermatographism. According to Cleveland Clinic, “Dermatographism is a common, benign skin condition. People who have this condition develop welts or a localized hive-like reaction when they scratch their skin. It can also happen when the skin is exposed to pressure or rubbing. This condition is also called skin writing, dermographia, or dermatographicurticaria.”
Julia Gnuse struggles with a condition called porphyria, a disease in which the slightest bit of sunlight causes burns on the skin. She’s decided to cover her entire body in tattoos.
Commonly known as ‘lobster claw hand’ or ‘split hand formation,’ people born with this condition have a cleft where their middle fingers or toes would normally be. This genetic malfunction generally happens when there are some deletions, translocation, and inversions in chromosome 7.
According to Genetics Home Reference, “Proteus syndrome is a rare condition characterized by overgrowth of the bones, skin, and other tissues. Organs and tissues affected by the disease grow out of proportion to the rest of the body. The overgrowth is usually asymmetric, which means it affects the right and left sides of the body differently.”
Known as polymelia, it’s a condition where the body has grown extra limbs. It’s extremely rare and very dangerous. Sometimes it can start as a conjoined twin that never fully developed, however, this is not always the case.
When people have eyes that each have a different color, it’s known as heterochromia iridum. It’s actually quite a common condition in which there are 200,000 people born in the US each year with multi-colored eyes.
Aren’t humans absolutely amazing? It’s so incredible how we can all be so alike and yet so different. Do you have any of these unique genetic mutations? We’d love to know!
50 People with distinctly special physical differences prove there is only one of each of us
William Maldonado
02.17.21
The world is an incredible and special place. Every person and creature is unique enough that you can never find anyone else just like you. We’re not just talking about personalities and experiences either since everyone can look different too!
It all comes down to genetics
Even siblings in the same family, you can have siblings with different shades of hair, different colored eyes, and different skin tones even if they’re born within a year or two!
The people on this list have genetic make-ups that give them incredible appearances that you would never expect to see in real life. Enjoy reading about these one-of-a-kind humans.