Man Loses Fingerprints to Cancer Drug

A 62 year old Singapore man, who was trying to enter the U.S., was detained at customs for several hours for an odd reason - he had no fingerprints! Even more disturbing is that the cause of his fingerprint loss was due to taking a common cancer drug, capecitabine, also known as Xeloda by its trade name.

A side effect of capecitabine is a condition called hand-foot syndrome, which causes severe skin dryness and peeling of the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. It is a very uncomfortable condition that can really disrupt a person's daily life. Imagine trying to type or pick up an object when you hands are so severely dried, blistering and peeling.

Prevention is key when it comes to hand-foot syndrome. Typically, a person would experience redness and tingling prior to skin peeling. But, the fingerprint-less traveller did not experience effects so severe that it interupted his daily life, so no medical intervention occurred. He and his oncologist clearly were unaware that he no longer had fingerprints.

Experts recommend that if you are taking Xeloda and traveling to countries that require fingerprint identification to bring a statement from your doctor stating your medication and its possible side effect of fingerprint loss.