Adermatoglyphia
Definition
Rare genetic disorder, sometimes called immigration delay disease, in which a person is born without friction ridges. The standard counter-example to the universality principle.
- Cause
- Mutation in the SMARCAD1 gene
- Inheritance
- Autosomal dominant
- Nickname
- Immigration delay disease
- Affected areas
- Palms and soles lack friction ridges
Common questions
Why is it called immigration delay disease?+
Affected individuals born without fingerprints faced difficulty at border checkpoints that rely on fingerprint verification, since AFIS and biometric visa systems have no ridge pattern to capture or match.
Is adermatoglyphia the only known cause of missing fingerprints?+
It is the best-documented genetic cause, but ridges can also be lost or obscured through severe burns, chemical exposure, certain skin diseases, or deliberate mutilation, so absence of prints does not by itself confirm the condition.
Related terms
- ACE-V
- Analysis, Comparison, Evaluation, Verification: the four-stage method for latent print examination used by accredited forensic fingerprint laboratories. Analysis examines the latent in...
- Core
- The approximate centre of a fingerprint pattern. In a loop, it is identified as the innermost recurving ridge's peak or the tip...
- Delta
- Triangular ridge formation at the point where parallel ridge flows diverge. Arches have 0 deltas, loops have 1, whorls have 2 or...
- Dermal Papillae
- Peg-like projections of the dermis into the epidermis. Their geometry sets the ridge pattern in stone before birth. Damage limited to the...
- Friction Ridge
- Raised epidermal ridge on the palmar surface of fingers, palms and soles, formed during foetal life from the underlying dermal papillae. The...
- Henry Classification
- Numeric filing system built at the Calcutta Fingerprint Bureau in 1897. Assigns a numerator and denominator from whorls on even and odd...
- Minutiae (Galton Points)
- Local ridge features used for individual identification. The classical set is ridge ending, bifurcation, dot, island or lake, bridge, hook or spur,...