Ankyloblepharon Filiforme Adnatum And Cleft Palate

Clinical Features

Cleft palate and/or cleft lip, together with congenital filiform fusion of the eyelids, has been observed in families. Khanna (1957) described affected sisters, one of whom had cleft lip and palate. Other familial cases were reported by Ehlers and Jensen (1970) and by Lemtis and Neubauer (1959). Since clefts and ankyloblepharon occur together in the syndrome of cleft lip-palate, paramedian mucous pits of the lower lip, popliteal pterygium, etc. (119500), it is not certain that this represents a separate mutation. Filiform fusion of the eyelids has been concordant in identical twins (Howe and Harcourt, 1974). There have been about 30 case reports of the eyelid anomaly and less than 10 cases with the binary combination (Gorlin, 1982). Evans et al. (1990) reported 3 cases of Edwards syndrome (trisomy 18) with ankyloblepharon filiforme adnatum.