The Palmaris longus muscle is the most suitable autograft material for various reconstructive surgeries. Keeping this in view the present work was undertaken. A cross sectional descriptive study was done by three clinical methods, 220 medical and paramedical students (120 females and 100 males),aged between 18-21 years, from various parts of south India were clinically tested for the presence or absence of the muscle. It was noted that there was absence of the muscle unilaterally mostly left sided (non dominant hand) and bilaterally was predominantly seen in females compared to the males. The observations made here suggest that the Palmaris longus muscle present in the dominant right hand which is involved in more motor activity compared to the left is less likely to get degenerated then the left side which is the nondominant hand due to disuse. Overall agenesis was seen in 13.63% unilaterally and 2.72% bilaterally.
