10 Unusual Physical Traits That Only a Handful of Us Have

All people are the same and different at the same time, which makes us unique and special. However, you may occasionally come across someone who possesses a physical characteristic that makes them stand out from the rest.

Bright Side would like to talk today about some rare conditions that prove the human body is unique and beautiful.

1. White locks

This is a scalp condition called poliosis. This consists of having strands of white hair on the head because the hair follicles stop growing with color due to a lack of melanin in those areas. Sometimes, at first glance, it can be confused with alopecia areata. However, while with alopecia areata you can get hairless patches, with poliosis you get tufts of white or grayish hair. This condition can appear at any age, even in children, due to a genetic factor that is transmitted from parents to children.

2. “Super athlete” gene to live at high altitudes

Compared to others who are not used to living at high altitudes, people living in Tibet do not usually suffer from headaches, dizziness, or fatigue. And that is despite living in places that have a lower concentration of oxygen in the air. A group of scientists has discovered that Tibetans have certain mutations in their genes that make life at high altitudes easier for them.

3. Elf ears

You may have come across a person with an unusual ear shape, that makes them similar to those of elves. This is a condition called Darwin’s tubercle, which consists of a thickening of the cartilage at the edge of the ears. This condition is present in different mammals, although today it has been mostly lost due to evolution.

4. The supertasters

A supertaster is not a person who has certain food quirks, but one that has an overdeveloped sense of taste, so they can perceive certain flavors and foods in more intense ways. This is because they pick up bitter flavors more easily, making the taste more intense.

5. Having very long ligaments

Some people can look extremely tall and thin, not because of a lack of weight, but because of a condition called Marfan syndrome, which affects the connective tissue that is responsible for supporting and holding the organs and other structures of the body. Spanish actor Javier Botet was not deterred by it, and we have even seen him participate in different horror movies, taking full advantage of his condition.

6. Having extra fingers

Some people have more than 5 fingers or toes on each of their hands or feet due to a genetic disorder called polydactyly. This is usually detected at birth and generally does not affect a person’s health, although sometimes it may be related to a more serious genetic abnormality, which can lead to other physical malformations.

7. Counterclockwise cowlicks

Although they can be annoying, hair swirls are present in a large percentage of human beings. However, most turn clockwise, and only 23.3% counterclockwise. There is no evidence of these swirls being related to the laterality of brain dominance, thus they are not related to handedness, footedness, or eyedness.

8. Sneezing due to sunlight

If you have ever sneezed after looking directly at the sunlight and moving from a dark environment to a more illuminated one, it must be because you are part of the small group of people with the photic sneeze reflex. This phenomenon lasts for a few seconds until you adapt to the change in the light exposure. However, it can be dangerous on some occasions, like when driving, which can lead to an accident.

9. Excess hair

While some people have to work wonders to appear to have a full head of hair, others cannot control the excessive amount of hair growing all over their body. The latter is caused by a genetic condition called hypertrichosis. This causes some people to have excessive hair growth everywhere. This syndrome is rare, with one of its types, congenital hypertrichosis lanuginosa, having affected approximately 50 people since the Middle Ages.

10. Abnormally short fingers

Just as there are people who have extra fingers or toes, there are others who have a congenital condition called symbrachydactyly, due to which one of their hands does not develop properly. This can be seen in their really short fingers that may be webbed or joined, or as a hand lacking some fingers.

Do you know someone who has any of these characteristics? Tell us their story in the comments.