# What Causes The 'Lobster Boy' Deformity? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 26, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-lobster-boy-deformity/164307 "2003-03-26T16:21:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-lobster-boy-deformity/164307/1 "2003-03-26T16:21:03Z")
What disease is responsible for the deformity made famous by circus sideshows that promoted people who suffered from this condition as ‘Lobster Boys’? Were their hands actually developed into working pinschers like the crustaceans for which they were named, or did they just appear that way? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-lobster-boy-deformity/164307/2 "2003-03-26T16:41:07Z")
I read a lot about that LobsterBoy guy (who was a real asshole, if his children and ex-wife are to be believed). I think they actually move, but they only have two really fat fingers. He was supposed to be a real Ladies Man, if you get my drift. Maybe you could Google it. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-lobster-boy-deformity/164307/3 "2003-03-26T16:43:36Z")
What do you mean “developed?” The exmples I’ve seen, like [Bree Walker](http://abilitymagazine.com/walker_interview.html) were the result of a genetic defect so they were born that way. She passed the deformity to at least one of her children. As for ability to use defused hands they probably have to learn muscle coordination as does any baby learning to use normal hands. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-lobster-boy-deformity/164307/4 "2003-03-26T16:50:51Z")
So it’s not related to Thalidomide? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-lobster-boy-deformity/164307/5 "2003-03-26T17:03:03Z")
It’s genetic. Grady Stiles and his children, and at least one grandchild all have (had) varying degrees of deformities. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-lobster-boy-deformity/164307/6 "2003-03-26T17:11:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Padeye \* > What do you mean “developed?” I can’t answer on anyone’s behalf, but usually when I see the word “developed” in that context, I take it to refer to _pre-natal development_. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-lobster-boy-deformity/164307/7 "2003-03-26T17:16:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Surreal \* > \*\*So it’s not related to Thalidomide? \*\* Thalidomide caused different deformities, extremely short, incomplete limbs. [http://www.tv.cbc.ca/witness/thalidomide/extratoday.htm](http://www.tv.cbc.ca/witness/thalidomide/extratoday.htm) The “lobster” condition is missing or fused digits in the hands and the feet and it called ectrodactyly. I did a few quick searches but couldn’t find any images to show the difference. I lived in San Diego in the early eighties and never realized Bree’s condition until I read a magazine article a few years later. She often had her hands on the desk but few people noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-lobster-boy-deformity/164307/8 "2003-03-26T21:25:39Z")
Good site on such things: [http://phreeque.tripod.com](http://phreeque.tripod.com) The Grady Stiles Jr. page: [http://phreeque.tripod.com/grady\_stiles.html](http://phreeque.tripod.com/grady_stiles.html)