Girl, 12, was unable to wear shoes and struggled to walk due to giant big toe
DOCTORS have released pictures of an girl who was born with two giant toes.
The 12-year-old was diagnosed with macrodystrophia lipomatosa (MDL), a birth defect which caused the bone, tissue and nerves in the big and second toe on her right foot to expand.
The unnamed girl's "gigantism" made it difficult for her to walk and wear shoes.
The patient's deformity was diagnosed at birth, but she had not attended a follow-up visit to the doctors since then.
Her parents, who live in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, sought help when he foot deformity got worse.
Dr Sri Arun Sellvam, an orthopaedic surgeon at Universiti Kebangsaan's Medical Centre, was the lead author of the case report.
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He said: "Plain radiographs and MRI findings revealed the accumulation of fatty tissue around the first and second toes, medial and lateral aspects of the first metatarsal, extending up to the medial plantar arch of the foot.
"MDL is a very uncommon kind of congenital localised gigantism, and surgical consultation is frequently performed for cosmetic reasons."
To improve the foot's functionality, the medical team carried out a successful reconstruction surgery.
Because of this, the child can now wear shoes and walk properly.
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Macrodystrophia lipomatosa usually occurs randomly rather than running in families.
It can be misdiagnosed as neural fibrolipomatous hamartoma, which are rare, slow-growing, benign tumours of the peripheral nerve.
Many medics also confuse the condition for neurofibromatosis type 1, an inherited disease characterised as the growth of benign tumours along the nerves of the skin and brain.
