Chemotherapy and Fingerprint Loss

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  • September 19, 2017 at 5:34 am #92511
    gavin
    Moderator

    Thanks for that Tilly.

    September 18, 2017 at 8:21 pm #92512
    bglass
    Moderator

    Thanks to Tilly for posting this.

    Losing your fingerprints is a minor inconvenience for many, but for a few, it can be a hardship if you need to be fingerprinted for work, travel or other reasons. It is recommended that if you think you might need to use your fingerprints, e.g., you might encounter biometric fingerprint scans in airports, that you ask for a letter from your physician explaining that you are taking capecitabine and may be fingerprint-impaired.

    I lost my fingerprints even though I had no hand-foot syndrome issues with my hands (just my feet suffered). My fingerprints silently disappeared. So it is possible to lose your fingerprints without having any other hand symptoms. My first warning was my phone no longer recognizing me. I had to be fingerprinted for work about a year after ending capecitabine, and my prints had returned – faintly – so this side effect seems a temporary one.

    Regards, Mary

    September 18, 2017 at 7:18 pm #12547
    sfbaybreeze
    Spectator

    Chemotherapy and fingerprint loss: beyond cosmetic.

    Al-Ahwal MS
    Oncologist. 2012;17(2):291-3. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2011-0243. Epub 2012 Feb

    Hand-foot syndrome (HFS) is a common adverse reaction to several chemotherapy
    drugs. Focus has been on the clinically relevant sequelae associated with this
    condition, with fingerprint loss receiving little attention. We report the case
    of a 53-year old male patient with terminal metastatic adenocarcinoma of the
    rectum involving the liver and lungs who developed grade 3 HFS while on
    capecitabine therapy. This resulted in his inability to process required
    government papers as a result of the loss of his fingerprints, imposing
    significant inconvenience and frustration on a person severely challenged by his
    deteriorating health. We believe clinicians should pay more attention to this
    possible outcome that can add additional stress in the lives of patients whose
    quality of life is already severely compromised.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22298801

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