Congenital facial palsy and ipsilateral deafness: association with maternal diabetes mellitus.

Congenital facial palsy and ipsilateral deafness were found in two children of unrelated insulin-requiring diabetics. Multidirectional tomography showed hypoplasia of the internal auditory canal in each case but the cochlea, vestibule and semicircular canals were radiologically normal. The malformation in these patients must have been determined before 23 weeks of gestational age when ossification of the inner ear is complete. The association of this malformation and maternal diabetes is unlikely to be coincidental.