Can vitiligo cause immigration delays?

Last Updated on 18th February 2020 by Caroline Haye

Missing finger prints AND missing pigment!

I have a friend whose replacement hip always sets off the metal detectors whenever he goes through airport security. Of course, this is not especially unusual. After all, joint replacements are relatively commonplace. But it can be inconvenient, and even a little embarrassing, for him. And it certainly causes a delay while he is taken to one side and searched. So I have always felt some sympathy for his situation. But I recently realised that I may have a more extraordinary security issue myself… One that could be related to my history of vitiligo… A phenomenon known, intriguingly, as Immigration Delay Disease. You may well ask how being held up on your way through an airport can be described as a disease… And how on earth can vitiligo cause immigration delays? Well, let me explain.

Why don’t my thumb prints register on biometric identification scanners?

I started researching this bizarre topic because of my own experiences of being held up at airport immigration. Every single time I have used a certain kind of airport identification check the process has failed… I’m talking about the kind that involves a thumb print scan. No matter how many times I try, the scanner refuses to recognise my prints. And consequently I am whisked away by a uniformed security officer to the “naughty desk”. At this desk I try another scanner multiple times, again with no luck.

Pressing my thumbs harder against the glass makes no difference. Neither does cleaning them on the cleansing pad provided for the purpose. So, eventually, an unsmiling official examines my passport… And a computer screen… Repeatedly scrutinising my face all the while, until even I am convinced I must be an imposter. Then, just as I begin to lose the will to live, the official waves me through… To join my smirking husband. Who has sailed through the scanner check long since and is wondering if he will ever see me again.

Each time this happens I can’t help noticing that the vast majority of other travellers have no problems whatsoever with biometric scanners. (Aside from figuring out what they are supposed to do, that is.) It’s only ever me and the occasional other lone individual who encounters this issue. So what’s going on? Well, an internet search tells me that most travellers who fail print checks do so because of wear and tear of their prints… Due to age… Which, of course, is not something I want to hear. So I keep searching, and guess what I find?

Adermatoglyphia… huh?

I find the strange case of a young Swiss woman who failed a security scan because she had no fingerprints. The cause of this being a very rare genetic defect. One that results in an absence of ridges on the skin where prints would normally be… A phenomenon called adermatoglyphia. Literally, the word means an absence of grooved patterns on the skin.

Not everyone with adermatoglyphia has the same rare genetic mutation a this Swiss woman. A significant minority of people have indistinct or missing fingerprints for other reasons. And, because an increase in the use of biometric identification is causing these people so many problems trying to enter foreign countries, dermatologists have started referring to it as “immigration delay disease”.

The most extreme cases of adermatoglyphia result in no prints whatsoever… Just completely smooth skin on the pads of their fingers (and toes). And, since fingerprints are formed in the womb, these people are born with the condition. But prints can wear smooth or gradually disappear later in life too. A frustrating situation that this fellow blogger describes in her Case Of The Missing Fingerprints.

Maybe the answer is at my finger tips!

Looking closely at my fingers and thumbs, I don’t think the prints are 100% missing. Just very smooth and hard to see with the naked eye. And I’m sure I used to be able to see them years ago. I can also remember passing some print checks of my forefinger at some point in the past (though never my thumbs). So maybe my problem is just age-related after all 🙁

Having said that, I’m not particularly ancient. And age itself isn’t the main factor. It’s more a matter of how much wear and tear your hands have. So, occupations like manual labour or massage can wear down your fingerprints over time. As can some office activities, like frequent paper-handling and keyboard work.

I certainly spend a lot of time at my computer every day. And, as someone who originally learned to type on an old manual typewriter, I tend to be rather heavy handed. So maybe that’s it. Then again, typing doesn’t tend to involve using the pad of your thumbs. So might there be more to my disappearing fingerand thumb prints than mere keyboard bashing? Might it have something to do with my history of vitiligo?

Vitiligo, autoimmunity and fingerprint loss

As I look deeper into this mystery, I start to find other interesting search results. Including some that suggest a link between autoimmune diseases and disappearing fingerprints. A scientific article entitled Vanishing Pigment and Fingerprints: An autoimmune connection? describes the case of a Korean man with vitiligo who mysteriously started to suffer from adermatoglyphia despite years of using fingerprint ID scanners without any difficulty. The same article refers to a similar case involving someone with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)… As well as a study demonstrating an association between the severity of celiac disease and the extent of fingerprint loss. Given that vitiligo, SLE and celiac disease are all autoimmune conditions, the authors suggest a possible link between the autoimmune process and a disruption in the pathway that maintains print structure.

Another, electrifying reason fingerprint scanners might not recognise vitiligo fingerprints

My increasingly smooth fingerprints are certainly one reason I am finding it hard to use scanner technology. And maybe the autoimmune activity behind my vitiligo is a reason for the changes. But there may be an additional cause… Electrical resistance. I’ve sometimes wondered why it is that touch pads and touch screens often don’t respond to me. Whereas they work perfectly well for others. So I did a bit of digging on this subject and found some fascinating (you could say electrifying) facts.

Who could resist an article with a title like this? Why Dead Fingers (Usually) Can’t Unlock a Phone. Not me, that’s for sure. I’m on a mission now to find out exactly how touch technology works in relation to the skin. And this article explains it really well. Apparently, it is not just the uniqueness of a fingerprint that is important in print recognition. It’s also the presence of distinct ridges and troughs in the skin… Because these are where the electrical charges are stored that communicate with the device. A lifeless body stops producing an electric charge (and therefore a touch screen will not recognise their print). And, it occurs to me, someone with adermatoglyphia will probably also lack the necessary electrical conductivity to activate touch screen devices easily.

But a lack of electrical charge caused by smooth prints may not be the only reason for touch screen problems in vitiligo. A scholarly article entitled Neural and Endocrinal Pathobiochemistry of Vitiligo: Comparative Study for a Hypothesized Mechanism – difference in electrical resistance in vitiligo skin may not sound as gripping as an article about dead fingers. But it is relevant because it points to differences in electrical resistance, as well as perspiration, temperature and other related neural factors in vitiligo-affected skin.

So, what have I learned so far?

Has all this investigation brought me any closer to solving the mystery of my immigration delays and touch screen trials? Yes – I think it has. For a start, I doubted before I began that the internet would throw up anything relevant. I assumed I was just unlucky or not very good with gadgets. But what I found was fascinating and went a long way toward providing possible answers.

It seems that there are several plausible explanations for my difficulties. And that they do indeed have something to do with abnormalities in my skin. A gradual loss of prints certainly goes a long way to explaining things. And I now know that this may be due to wear and tear or it may be a result of having an autoimmune condition. In addition, I have learned that skin has to be able to store sufficient electrical charge to activate touch technology. And that there are at least two reasons why I may fail to do this… The most likely one being the lack of well-defined ridges on my fingers and thumbs. And the other (maybe less likely since most of my pigment has returned) involves differences in the way vitiligo skin behaves compared to normal skin.

Whatever the ins and out of the mystery are (or the lack of ins and out of my prints) I know one thing for sure… I shall be seeing my old friends at the naughty desk again… And again!

As ever, I’d love to hear from anyone who has had similar experiences or can add anything to this conversation. So, drop me a comment below or, if you prefer, get in touch via my Contact page.