Does Palm reading help in medicine?

Being a clinician is a very interesting profession - What can you find reading the lines on the palm?

Image courtesy: http://www.nlm.nih.gov


A simian crease is a single transverse palmar crease as compared to two creases in a normal palm. Simian crease occurs in about 1 out of 30 normal people, 
Medical conditions it is associated with Simian crease are:
Down syndrome, 
Trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome): Excess of arches on fingertips and single transverse palmar creases in 60%
Trisomy 18 (Edward's syndrome) 6 - 10 arches on fingertips and single transverse palmar creases in 30%.
Aarskog syndrome or fetal alcohol syndrome.
Cri du chat (5p-): Excess of arches on fingertips and single transverse palmar creases in 90%.

Dermatoglyphics: is the scientific study of fingerprints

The word dermatoglyphics is tied with the word uncopyrightable as the longest English word without any repeating letters 

The word dermatoglyphics comes from two Greek words (derma, skin and glyphe, carve) and refers to the friction ridge formations which appear on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Characteristically, hair does not grow from this area. The ridging formations serve well to enhance contact, an area of multiple nerve endings (Dermal Papillae) and aids in the prevention of slippage. People of African ancestry display reduced skin pigmentation in the designated locations.