Phocomelia – Normal Face
The image is extracted from a video trailer
Please click to enlarge.
Note what signs you see.
I see (W. Wertelecki, M.D.) an adult female with reduction malformations of four limbs (tetra-phocomelia). The facial proportions, ears, and breasts show normal proportions. Her large abdomen without other signs of obesity suggests that she is pregnant.
The presence of phocomelia and the absence of mental subnormality (oligophrenia or hypomentia) – she is an accomplished artist with diplomas of higher education – evidence of fertility – are indicative that the etiology (cause) impacted specific pathways (pathogenesis) of embryonal development. Her mother consumed thalidomide during the gestation that produced this woman. The concurrence of the anomalies noted in the context of signs of “average or normal” mental and reproductive systems is compatible with the hypothesis of “thalidomide embryopathy”.
Signs are objectives – diagnoses and syndromes are hypothetical.
More notes in Pandora Word Box and Thalidomide gallery.
