Facial Effects of Fetal Alcohol Exposure: Assessment by Photographs and Morphometric Analysis

This study was designed to assess the limits of alcohol-related facial dysmorphogenesis. Standard full face and lateral facial photographs were obtained on 21 7-year-old children who had been exposed gestationally to known, heavy quantities of ethanol. Only two of these children had been previously considered to have definite fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Similar photographs of 21 other 7-year-old children with negligible gestational ethanol exposure were obtained for control purposes. Copies of the 42 photographs were given to each of seven expert clinicians who were asked to select any child with an FAS-related facial appearance. Six of seven judges were accurate in identifying children with high levels of alcohol exposure as having a fetal alcohol-affected face. A set of homologous points on the photographs were then digitized and analyzed by newly developed morphometric methods to determine the facial shape characteristics that distinguish the selected photographs of highly exposed children. The analysis confirmed that the judges specifically identified children with facial changes consistent with those previously published as defining the face of the FAS: short palpebral fissures, a relatively long and flat midface, and a retrusive mandible. This methodology may be useful in more accurately delineating the facial phenotype in other conditions diagnosed primarily on the basis of subjective clinical criteria.