Adermatoglyphia

Dyskeratosis congenita is a rare congenital syndrome, characterized by the triad of reticular skin pigmentation, mucosal leukoplakia, and nail dystrophy, plus the predisposition to bone marrow failure and malignancy. […] Other cutaneous findings may include alopecia, hyperkeratosis of the palms and soles, and adermatoglyphia (loss of dermal ridges on fingers and toes).

A problem in forensics for this type of identification is people who are born without or do not have fingerprints. A Swiss woman and a portion of her family members were born without fingerprints in a condition called adermatoglyphia. Her genotype was mapped and discovered she had a point mutation in the SMARCAD1 gene located in the chromosome 4q22, which caused her to be born without the loops, whorls, and arches in her digits that are associated with fingerprints[…]. There are other cases that result in adermatoglyphia such as the disease dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis, Naegeli syndrome, and manual removal of one's fingerprints which is a temporary but painful technique.

Monogenic disorders offer unique opportunities for researchers to shed light upon fundamental physiological processes in humans. We investigated a large family affected with autosomal-dominant adermatoglyphia (absence of fingerprints) also known as the "immigration delay disease."

A rare genetic condition called adermatoglyphia leaves some people with no fingerprints at all.