Gorlin-Chaudhry-Moss syndrome

Gorlin-Chaudhry-Moss syndrome is a condition that affects many parts of the body. The signs and symptoms of this disorder are apparent from birth or infancy.

Gorlin-Chaudhry-Moss syndrome is characterized by the premature closure of certain bones of the skull (craniosynostosis) during development, which affects the shape of the head and face. Many people with this disorder have a premature fusion of skull bones along the coronal suture, the growth line that goes over the head from ear to ear. These changes can result in a head that is abnormally wide and pointed at the top (acrobrachycephaly). Affected individuals also have distinctive facial characteristics that can include a flat or sunken appearance of the middle of the face (midface hypoplasia), and small eyes (microphthalmia) with narrowed openings (narrowed palpebral fissures). Affected individuals may also have farsightedness (hyperopia) and dental problems such as small teeth (microdontia) or fewer teeth than normal (hypodontia).

Many people with Gorlin-Chaudhry-Moss syndrome have a lack of fatty tissue under the skin (lipodystrophy). The lack of fat, together with thin, wrinkled, loose skin and veins visible beneath the skin, makes affected individuals look older than their biological age. This appearance of premature aging is sometimes described as progeroid.

Affected individuals also have excessive hair growth (hypertrichosis) on their face and body. They have a low hairline on the forehead and their scalp hair is often coarse. People with Gorlin-Chaudhry-Moss syndrome also have shortened bones at the ends of the fingers and toes (short distal phalanges). Affected females have unusually small external genital folds (hypoplasia of the labia majora).

Some individuals with Gorlin-Chaudhry-Moss syndrome have mild developmental delay but intelligence is usually normal in this disorder, as is life expectancy.