Fetal finger pads are fleshy, raised mounds of subcutaneous tissue and fat, which appear on the tips of your fingers and toes during early human development.
The fetal finger pads are also called volar pads.
Fetal finger pads often emerge around the 6th or even 7th week of gestation and often disappear before the baby is born.
During fetal development and embryonic development, the fetal finger pads play a direct structural role in the formation of dermatoglyphs, which are the unique loops, swirls and arches that make up toeprints and fingerprints.
The size, shape and placement of the fetal finger pads as they grow in the womb also determine the ultimate pattern of a person's fingerprints.
And although the fetal finger pads recede naturally before birth in most people, the fetal finger pads sometimes will fail to flatten out and remain visible into childhood and adulthood.
When this occurs, they are then referred to as persistent fetal finger pads.
The persistent fetal finger pads are not painful, although they also have clinical significance because the fetal finger pads are considered a major dermatoglyphic abnormality.
The persistent fetal finger pads are also often used by geneticists as a key physical diagnostic clue for several rare congenital and genetic conditions.
Having persistent fetal pads on the fingers and toes is also considered one of the cardinal diagnostic signs of kabuki syndrome.
And many people with Pitt Hopkins Syndrome also display fleshy, prominent pads at the tips of their digits.