Sometimes People's Pinkie Toes Fall Off And Nobody Knows Why

If someone told you their toes just sorta fell off one day and they have no idea why you'd probably assume they're either insane or high, but they may actually be the victim of dactylolysis spontanea.

It's an extremely rare form of autoamputation, meaning your body has decided to "shed" a limb, or in this case a toe, and it sounds like something you'd see on a sci-fi show like the Twilight Zone.

A Brazilian doctor named Silva Lima was one of the first to make note of this strange occurrence back in 1867, and even though multiple incidents have been recorded since there are still no answers as to why it occurs.

Here's what the process of losing toes to dactylolysis spontanea is like:

First a little band of tough tissue forms around the base of the pinkie toe. Usually, the band forms on each pinkie toe, because why not have horror be symmetrical? Eventually the band gets smaller and tighter, and the toe swells up. The toe, naturally, hurts, but there is nothing amiss with the rest of the person. They get to watch as the “band” gets narrower and tighter, breaking the bones in the toe as it constricts. The toe ends up hanging by a “pedicle,” a tiny bit of tissue and bone. Eventually, even that gives up the ghost and the toe drops off.

Medical science still can't explain this strange disease, and all they can say for sure is that it happens to people of African descent and those who live in the tropics more than anyone else. So count your blessings if you can still count all ten of your toes!

-Via Gizmodo


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