Do our fingerprints change? When I was a child, I was taught that they never would. However, when I provided my biometrics for a visa application, it was pointed out that my fingerprints did not match those that were taken five years earlier. Is this possible, or is it more likely to be an error with the records or software? 1. Experts refer to the patterns that make up fingerprints as friction ridges. These begin to form in developing fetuses roughly halfway through pregnancy and differ even between identical twins, and conditions in the uterus contribute to the pattern. With few exceptions, these patterns are permanent. Some people are born without fingerprints. As of 2011, members of five families are known to have adermatoglyphia, caused by improper expression of the SMARCADl protein. People with Naegeli-Franceschetti-Jadassohn syndrome and dermatopathia pigmentosa, which are both forms of the condition ectodermal dysplasia, also lack fingerprints. Fingerprints can be temporarily erased by physical abrasion or medication, and because skin elasticity decreases with age, they can be difficult to record in older people.
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