SCANNING MYSTERY: Trying to fool a scanner technician with disguised prints would be difficult, Richards says, but what happens if a person doesn't have any fingerprints to begin with?
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A 62-year-old man from Singapore was traveling to the U.S. to see relatives last December and was detained after a routine fingerprint scan showed that he actually had none. So how did this happen?
The man, identified in a medical journal case report only as "Mr. S," had been on chemotherapy to keep his head and neck cancer in check. As it turns out, the drug, capecitabine (brand name, Xeloda) had given him a moderate case of something known as hand–foot syndrome (aka chemotherapy-induced acral erythema), which can cause swelling, pain and peeling on the palms and soles of the feet—and apparently, loss of fingerprints.
Mr. S's doctor, Eng-Huat Tan, a senior oncology consultant at the National Cancer Center in Singapore, described the incident in a letter published earlier this week in Annals of Oncology and recommended patients on that drug obtain letters from their doctors before traveling to the U.S.
Officials allowed Mr. S to enter the country following a few hours' detainment when they were "satisfied that he was not a security threat," Tan noted in his letter. Mr. S says he had not noticed that his fingerprints had vanished before he set out on his trip, and his doctor found informal online mentions of other chemo patients complaining of lost fingerprints.
Forensics expert Edward Richards, director of the Program in Law, Science and Public Health at Louisiana State University, explains that "other diseases, rashes and the like can cause vesicular breakdown of the skin on your fingers—just a good case of poison ivy would do it." But, he notes, "Left alone, your skin replaces at a fairly good rate, so unless you've done permanent damage to the tissue, it will regenerate."
As fingerprint scanning and other biometrics become more common (visitors seeking entry into the U.S. must have their prints scanned to ensure they do not currently hold a visa under another name), scanning technology is also advancing. But cases such as this point out that you actually need fingerprints for identification. So how effective are current scanners, and how else have people—accidentally or intentionally—altered their fingerprints?
To find out, we spoke with fingerprint expert Kasey Wertheim, president of Complete Consultants Worldwide, LLC, which provides fingerprint examination expertise to government clients and has done forensic and biometric work for the U.S. Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
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13 Comments
Add CommentI remember there was an episode of Hawaii 5-0 that dealt with a man without fingerprints. He had worked at an old pineapple cannery for many years and the acid had eventually worn away his fingerprints. I don't know if it's true (it's from a t.v. show after all), but it's interesting.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLisa,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou are correct - pineapple juice is very acidic and will temporarily damage the outer layer of ridged skin. The same type of damage could occur with simle abrasion. However, the basal (middle) layer of skin will regenerate the entire outer ridged fingerprint in about 30 days. And as stated in the article, even with damage, some fingerprint scanners are made to read through shallow ridges.
-Kasey
I am a 76 year old Caucasian male Brit and I am always dropping things because my fingerprints do not exist. I cannot friction grip, only mechanical grip. Most of my friends of a similar age have the same problem.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am surprised that the Mericans are unaware of this problem - perhaps the personnel involved were poorly trained.
Sir,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot having yet reached your wise age, I don't have the issue (I wouldn't call it a "problem") of losing elasticity within my fingerprints . The manifestation of this effect in friction ridges is that they lose height compared to the furrows and therefore don't provide as much friction when they contact a non-porous surface. Your fingerprints are still there - they just aren't as prominent in height and therefore your friction ridges lose their effectiveness. Believe me, most American fingerprint examiners (me being one), in fact I would venture to say most fingerprint examiners in the world (no need to be geographically prejudice with this) are well versed in this issue and are aware of how this affects the job of fingerprint examination. But actual fingerprint examiners weren't involved with taking the fingerprints of the gentleman who was denied entry. Border patrol agents are a far cry from fingerprint experts. Besides, he wasn't affected by loss of elasticity of the skin due to well seasoned age, but rather by the effects of the medication. That is why his case has been widely discussed. But I respect and appreciate your interest in the article and the New Scientist.
-Kasey
Hi, I had had a fingerprint-loss problem for very long time. When I was young, every winter, the skin of my fingers and hands would breakdown for unknown reasons. At that time, my hands and fingers would lost their surface layer, and the skin will become hard, rough and uneven. Plus, they would turn to very easy to crack , and hurt. Actually, this phenomenon is very common in my circles. My father, some of my classmates all suffered it very much. My folks call it "hot blood", which means the blood is to hot to burn the skin off. However, it seems to have some relationships with the seasons, because in summers the "hot blood" is very seldom. And maybe the climate also does something with it. My hometown city is a very dry and cold. But, since I moved to another city which is pretty of humidity and warm, this "hot blood" have never returned.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHi, I had had a fingerprint-loss problem for very long time. When I was young, every winter, the skin of my fingers and hands would breakdown for unknown reasons. At that time, my hands and fingers would lost their surface layer, and the skin will become hard, rough and uneven. Plus, they would turn to very easy to crack , and hurt. Actually, this phenomenon is very common in my circles. My father, some of my classmates all suffered it very much. My folks call it "hot blood", which means the blood is to hot to burn the skin off. However, it seems to have some relationships with the seasons, because in summers the "hot blood" is very seldom. And maybe the climate also does something with it. My hometown city is a very dry and cold. But, since I moved to another city which is pretty of humidity and warm, this "hot blood" have never returned.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFyi, Its called Raynaud's disease not "Hot Blood Syndrome"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy is this such a serious indentification issue couldn't the use of iris identification techniques easily replace fingertip identification or is that a more complex procedure?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am 56 years old and my fingerprints disappeared at least 10 years ago. I am not a cancer patient, a secretary, or a bricklayer. I cannot friction grip and my doctor has no idea wjy I don't have fingerprints.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is a great technology out there which uses a Finger Vein Reader to capture an individual's vein pattern. It is completely non invasive, and has a 0.0001% false positive rate.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is true, damaged fingerprints are a very big issue in biometrics. People lose their fingerprints due to a lifetime of using their hands, injury, working with chemicals, or even just age.
This technology, however, is very secure and extremely easy to use! It is also the first (and currently only) of its kind to be offered in North America.
Learn more about finger vein technology. Visit: http://www.m2sys.com/finger-vein-reader.htm
@m2AnastasiaC
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile that sounds like a good false positive rate on the scanner you are advertising, we also need the false negative rate and at least a rough estimate of the rate for attempted break-ins vs authorized users.
Provide said statistics in terms of absolute numbers, as percentages can mislead even people who ought to know better.
http://yudkowsky.net/rational/bayes
this is what kind of justice will put innocent people away and haunt you n the real time
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisalways1playboy
CULLEN MICHAEL HANKERSON 06/29/1969
I'm only 40 and not having the friction grip is driving me crazy! I'm not in any of the mentioned jobs either. What else could cause this? Any solutions to the problem?
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