Pseudoainhum : a dermatological oddity

Abstract

An eight week old baby presented with a deep constriction round the base of the third right toe, of one day’s duration. A strand of filamentous material was found and uncoiled from the depths of the cleft which subsequently healed within a week. Recurrence in the same digit four weeks later raised the question of factitious disease. Pseudoainhum refers to a constricting band around a digit or limb, congenital or acquired. It must be distinguished from true ainhum, where a painful, idiopathic constriction of the fifth toe in dark-skinned adults results in spontaneous amputation of the digit.