Distribution of Dorsal Phalangeal Hair of Hands in Natives of Almadinah Almonawarah Province, Saudi Arabia

Introduction: Hairiness in humans has been attracting the attention of anthropologists for a long time. Many investigators studied hair growth over the body including the axillary hair, pubic hair and the hair on the phalanges of the fingers. They tried to study the racial, geographical and sexual variations in hair pattern in different populations. Aim of the work: The present investigation aimed to study the different patterns of dorsal phalangeal hair distribution in natives of Almadinah Almonawarah province in Saudi Arabia and to determine the existence of sexual dimorphism. Subjects and Methods: 600 contributors (300 males and 300 females) aging 18-36 years were randomly selected from medical and paramedical Saudi students and employee of Taibah University, Almadinah Almonawarah. Their clean hands were examined under adequate lighting for dorsal phalangeal hair distribution using hand lens. The collected data were statistically analyzed. Results: The present study showed that no difference in dorsal phalangeal hair distribution between the right and left hands in the same sex. Also, hair was absent on the dorsum of the distal phalanges in all participants. Hair was present on the dorsum of the proximal phalanges of 98.67% of males and 97.33% of females. The most common combination of fingers with proximal phalangeal hair was 12345 while, the least common combination was 45 in males and 234, 45 and 4 in females. Hair was present on the dorsum of the middle phalanges of 46% of males and 38% of females. The most common combination of fingers with middle phalangeal hair was 34 while the least common combination was 5 in males and 45 in females. Dorsal phalangeal hair distribution showed no significant difference between male and female contributors. Conclusion: Based on the previous data, it is recommended to widen the scale of similar future researches to cover a larger number of population in different regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. [Yasser M. Elbastawisy. Distribution of Dorsal Phalangeal Hair of Hands in Natives of Almadinah Almonawarah province, Saudi Arabia. J Am Sci 2013;9(11):17-21]. (ISSN: 1545-1003). http://www.jofamericanscience.org. 4