Ocular and Periorbital Anthropometry in the Newborn

Document Type

Article

Authors

Mübeccel Demirkol, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine
Türkan Ertuǧrul, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine

Abstract

To provide standard reference values relating to a number of ocular and periorbital anthropometric parameters in the newborn, inner canthal, outer canthal and outer orbital distances were measured in 625 healthy newborns of gestational ages 27-44 weeks. Mean and SD values for these measurements and for inner canthal, canthal and length of palpebral fissure indices derived from these measurements were calculated for boy and girl infants and for infants of different degrees of prematurity. Boy infants showed significantly higher values for inner canthal, outer canthal and periorbital distances (p < 0.01, p < 0.05, p < 0.01). No significant sex differences were observed for palpebral fissure length nor for the inner canthal and canthal indices. Inner canthal, canthal indices and length of palpebral fissure were also found to be essentially comparable in term, preterm and small for gestational age infant groups while significant dif­ferences (p < 0.001) were established among inner canthal, outer canthal and periorbital distance measurements.Our results also indicate that in the newborn, a value exceeding 7.5% for inner canthal index indicates hypertelorism and a value over 43% for canthal index is compatible with a diagnosis of ocular pseudohypertelorism.

Recommended Citation

Demirkol, Mübeccel and Ertuǧrul, Türkan (1988) "Ocular and Periorbital Anthropometry in the Newborn," Human Biology: Vol. 60: Iss. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol60/iss1/5