# two left feet - actual medical condition? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-left-feet-actual-medical-condition/324870 "2005-10-05T12:42:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![inc\_anon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ec9cab/32.png) [@inc\_anon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inc_anon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-left-feet-actual-medical-condition/324870/1 "2005-10-05T12:42:11Z")
afternoon been googling this but going round in circles. my question is, have there ever been any reported cases of someone having two actual left feet (or right, or hands)? i don’t mean a condition to do with clumsiness or being uncoordinated. i mean two actual, big toe on the right, left feet. Anyone? thanks ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-left-feet-actual-medical-condition/324870/2 "2005-10-05T12:47:46Z")
Short of reconstructive surgery, it’s difficult to see how this could happen; it’s just incredibly improbable that a deformed foot would end up looking like the opposite one, with no other defects or distortions. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-left-feet-actual-medical-condition/324870/3 "2005-10-05T12:51:07Z")
On further thought; this isn’t what you were looking for, but there have been people born with two left feet, and two right feet; that is, they have four legs; it’s the same thing as when conjoined twins are born sharing the same hips/legs, it’s just that when the division is at the bottom end, we don’t call it two people. ---
**Author:** ![inc\_anon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ec9cab/32.png) [@inc\_anon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inc_anon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-left-feet-actual-medical-condition/324870/4 "2005-10-05T12:59:21Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > On further thought; this isn’t what you were looking for, but there have been people born with two left feet, and two right feet; that is, they have four legs; it’s the same thing as when conjoined twins are born sharing the same hips/legs, it’s just that when the division is at the bottom end, we don’t call it two people. interesting, but just to further clarify, i’m looking for evidence of cases where the person has two legs only and the feet are identical. The possibilty of this happening comes from thoughts of people with 6 fingers or webbed feet. those strange (not quite) minor variation which are possible. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-left-feet-actual-medical-condition/324870/5 "2005-10-05T13:22:06Z")
In the movie _Best In Show_, Gerald ‘Gerry’ Fleck played by Eugene Levy has two left feet. Of course, this is a comedy. [http://imdb.com/title/tt0218839/](http://imdb.com/title/tt0218839/) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-left-feet-actual-medical-condition/324870/6 "2005-10-05T13:26:42Z")
I saw on some non-fiction TV show a guy who lost a hand and had it replaced with the opposite type, i.e. a left had replaced with a right, or vice versa. Hence he had two hands of the same type. It looked quite odd. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-left-feet-actual-medical-condition/324870/7 "2005-10-05T13:29:23Z")
> [@inc anon](#): > > interesting, > but just to further clarify, i’m looking for evidence of cases where the person has two legs only and the feet are identical. > The possibilty of this happening comes from thoughts of people with 6 fingers or webbed feet. those strange (not quite) minor variation which are possible. In that case, I’d stick with _highly improbable without widespread additional deformities_. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-left-feet-actual-medical-condition/324870/8 "2005-10-05T16:47:26Z")
> [@inc anon](#): > > interesting, > but just to further clarify, i’m looking for evidence of cases where the person has two legs only and the feet are identical. The only way I can imagine this occurring is if a) one entire limb failed to develop, and b) the other limb was duplicated during development (this duplication is what results in polydactyly; the extra fingers and toes are not “new”, but rather duplicates of an existing finger or toe). This would result in two left legs/arms whatever (both arising from the same socket, most likely), in addtion to the feet. This would, of course, require many things to go wrong during development. I would say it’s not impossible, but very, very unlikely. I would say it _is_ impossible for development to otherwise be normal, but have two left (or right) feet (or hands). Development simply doesn’t work that way. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-left-feet-actual-medical-condition/324870/9 "2005-10-05T23:42:21Z")
This is about as likely as someone being literally “all thumbs”. Bilateral symmetry is so important the genes controlling it are some of those which vary little between humans and fruit flies. Any mutation severe enough to cause two left feet would cause so many other problems the fetus would surely miscarry. And once the basic bilateral pattern is established, the parts aren’t just going to rotate and duplicate each other. It’s conceivable that a conjoined-twin conception in which one twin is only partially developed might result in two left legs (not just feet). Three-legged humans have been born after such “developmental errors”, and if one of the intact twin’s legs also failed to develop, then you would have a person with two legs from different sources (and probably control of only one leg). This would require two very rare birth defects to occur in the same conception, in a precise sequence. Needless to say this is wildly improbable. ---
**Author:** ![inc\_anon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ec9cab/32.png) [@inc\_anon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inc_anon)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-left-feet-actual-medical-condition/324870/10 "2005-10-06T08:11:46Z")
thank you, my curiousity is well and truly satisfied > [@ryobserver](#): > > This is about as likely as someone being literally “all thumbs”. Bilateral symmetry is so important the genes controlling it are some of those which vary little between humans and fruit flies. Any mutation severe enough to cause two left feet would cause so many other problems the fetus would surely miscarry. And once the basic bilateral pattern is established, the parts aren’t just going to rotate and duplicate each other. > > It’s conceivable that a conjoined-twin conception in which one twin is only partially developed might result in two left legs (not just feet). Three-legged humans have been born after such “developmental errors”, and if one of the intact twin’s legs also failed to develop, then you would have a person with two legs from different sources (and probably control of only one leg). This would require two very rare birth defects to occur in the same conception, in a precise sequence. Needless to say this is wildly improbable.