Show Me Your Hands

Why would a gynecologist look at your hands? Actually there has always been a lot we can tell from a hand evaluation. Skin tone, skin turgor or thickness, your nail health, the presence of arthritis, sun damage just to name a few things your physician can tell with a glance. But one thing you may not know is that this is a window on your sexuality as well. Look at your flattened hand on the table. Then observe your index finger (digit 2 or 2D in the short hand for this test) in relationship to your ring finger (digit 4 or 4D). The relationship between these two digits, called the 2D:4D ratio is tied to some of our basic genetics and the amount of hormone receptors we have to male hormones. We can then use this 2D:4D ratio measurement to study how it is linked to our patient's sexual behavior. There maybe a large number of variables that this measure is actually related to, but what has interested some Canadian gynecologic researchers is that this seems to be a marker of how sensitive a woman is to the male hormone. When we measure how sensitive to the male hormones, or androgens, we are, we can get a window on the likelihood that a woman is going to suffer sexuality side effects of  oral contraceptives. If the Index finger is no longer or even shorter than the ring finger, which it often is in men, then you have what is determined to be a “low 2D:4D ratio." And in women with the lower ratios they might be more sensitive to a change in sexuality secondary to oral contraceptives. Its a field that is just being studied, and until we can tie real genetic studies to these behaviors it will not be a very useful test, but still interesting!