# Would you recognize a photo of your hand **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 30, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670 "2026-04-30T15:47:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/1 "2026-04-30T15:47:15Z")
(This didn’t seem serious enough for IMHO, so I put it here - if I’m wrong, feel free to relocate) This came up due to an actual situation at work. If you saw a photo of your hand with no context, would you be able to recognize it? This assumes no rings, bracelets or watches and also assumes no telling background info. Variant, if you were shown a series of 50 hands, could you pick out yours? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/2 "2026-04-30T15:51:25Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > (This didn’t seem serious enough for IMHO, so I put it here In IMHO. I think you can move it yourself in the first few minutes. If not, a mod can put it wherever you want if you report your OP to them. As to the actual topic … I expect I could probably recognize my hand(s). There’s a couple of distinctive minor scars nobody else is likely to match. Other than that, they look increasingly like what they are: geezer hands. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/3 "2026-04-30T15:57:44Z")
Yes, though I’d have to study the picture closely. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/4 "2026-04-30T16:00:46Z")
Yes. Easily. I have these odd pinky fingers. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/5 "2026-04-30T16:03:26Z")
i would probably be able to get it by the nails. No chance if it was palm view ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/6 "2026-04-30T16:08:03Z")
Probably not. There’s nothing distinctive about my hands. If you put them in a photo line-up with other similar looking hands, I doubt I could pick mine out. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/7 "2026-04-30T16:08:42Z")
Only one scar on my right hand, so maybe. Three scars and a couple of liver spots on the left, so probably. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/8 "2026-04-30T16:12:17Z")
Nope, I am not that observant. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/9 "2026-04-30T16:12:32Z")
It would depend on when the photo was taken. I almost always have a collection of cuts, abrasions, bruises and other booboos on one or both of my hands, so if it’s a recent picture, yes. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/10 "2026-04-30T16:15:41Z")
My left hand has a birthmark on the back but it’s near the wrist so it’d have to be a pretty full photo of my hand. Otherwise I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/11 "2026-04-30T16:17:43Z")
This is a bit more difficult than the OP is looking for but [Taskmaster did this](https://youtu.be/kQ9uSgbOfMA) with several thousand black and white photos of hands. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/12 "2026-04-30T16:59:12Z")
I rather doubt it. There isn’t anything particularly distinctive about my hands, as far as I can see. On a slightly related topic though, I was rather impressed with google’s image recognition capabilities recently. My wife had taken a photo of a lesion on my ear to send to our doctor, who diagnosed it as a probable basal cell carcinoma (surgically removed now, I am happy to say). Just for fun I sent this to google lens, and the top hit was indeed ‘basal cell’… ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/13 "2026-04-30T17:07:30Z")
I am positive I would not recognize a photo of my hand. I’m pretty sure I’d think, “Man, that’s a picture of some old guy’s hand, and it looks like hell!” ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/14 "2026-04-30T17:18:10Z")
I think I would recognize the backs of my hands, if they are good clear photos. I have a mole thingy on one of them, and they both have some (now fairly subtle) scar tissue across the knuckles from childhood eczema. It’s a little harder if I spread my fingers out flat, or worse flexed upwards, that tends to accentuate the wrinkles and hide the other features. I don’t think I would be able to identify my palms, but in checking them just now I noticed that my right palm is a lot smoother than my left, as if I had worn away more of the epidermis there. I use a vertical mouse in my right hand that uses my entire palm, I wonder if that’s the reason. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/15 "2026-04-30T17:21:34Z")
Absolutely. I have very distinctive scars or marks on both the fronts and the backs of both hands. In fact, I could tell my hands from just their palm prints. I know this from experience. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/16 "2026-04-30T17:24:58Z")
Yes, easily. I know what my hand looks like. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/17 "2026-04-30T17:26:24Z")
An interesting question, and I have no idea if I would or not… ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan\_myers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@aruvqan\_myers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan_myers)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/18 "2026-04-30T18:31:59Z")
I spent a certain amount of time as an inside/outside mechanic and as such have scars on both hands from minor accidents so yes I would recognize my hands =) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/19 "2026-04-30T18:45:18Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > I am positive I would not recognize a photo of my hand. I’m pretty sure I’d think, “Man, that’s a picture of some old guy’s hand, and it looks like hell!” Thanks for that laugh, I needed it today! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670/20 "2026-04-30T18:57:57Z")
I have relatively minor scars on each of my index fingers. If asked “Are these your hands?” I could positively ID them assuming the scars were visible. Just shown a photo of a hand, I doubt I’d immediately notice them to say “Hey that’s my hand” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recognize-a-photo-of-your-hand/1029670.md?page=2)