My name is Illona. I have an older sister and we both were born with syndactyly. I have it 50% on the 2nd and 3rd, both feet. My sister had it 100% on the 2nd and 3rd, both feet. Apparently my grandpa and dad both have it 25% on both feet. Actually my dad may have it 50% on one foot, 25% on the other.

My sister definitely made me aware of our condition since she's eight years older than me. She had always been uncomfortable with it and so made me uncomfortable with it as well.

When my sister was 18, she had corrective surgery for her bunyons. While in surgery, she asked to have her toes seperated as well. They took skin from her ankles and placed them into the middle of the seperated toes. Now she has scars on her ankles, too! I never understood why she did this.

I came up with a much better solution for a disguise. Why not get a black line tattooed down the middle of the toes? Perhaps with a little shading for realism.

I can't say that people really notice them unless I point them out. Everyone I've ever met has been perfectly fine with them. My sister's own shame still lingers in me but with my boyfriend's help (encouraging me to wear sandals) I think I'm finally OK with my feet.

Here's a funny story for everyone who says they've always looked at other people's feet in case they had webbed toes as well.

I was living in a different town and decided to go out to the bars with a friend. Being the young and carefree person I was, I met a guy and ended up going home with him. I think my reasoning was that he was funny and we wore the same shoes.

In the morning we woke up and as we were dressing, I noticed that he had syndactyly, too! For some reason I couldn't bring myself to mention it but inside I felt 100% more secure about my own toes. But the story gets weirder....after we got dressed I looked at what he was wearing and it was the exact same outfit as me. Same shoes, same light blue jeans, same charcoal grey shirt.

Talk about finding your doppleganger!