Surface morphology in Treacher Collins syndrome: an anthropometric study.

Between 27 and 65 anthropometric measurements were taken for the head and face of 18 Treacher Collins syndrome patients. The most defective and frequent findings were subnormal facial depth measurements, which increased in disproportionality toward the mandible. Width of the face was more frequently and more severely subnormal than that of the mandible. The orbits were hyperteloric with disproportionately short eye fissures and an antimongoloid inclination. The ears were microtic (more so in width than in length) in 58.8 percent of cases but low-set in only 20 percent. The nose measurements were mostly normal, which explains the "parrot-beak" character of the nose in the presence of a hypoplastic receding chin; the only nose defects were supernormal height and width in the root and subnormal bridge inclination. The most frequently seen striking disproportions were those between the width of the nasal root and the width of the soft nose, followed by the great discrepancy between the markedly narrow face and the usually normal face height.