Symptoms
Symptoms vary from one type of the syndrome to another and from one patient to another, but they include:
- Very pale or brilliantly blue eyes, eyes of two different colors (complete heterochromia), or eyes with one iris having two different colours (sectoral heterochromia);
- A forelock of white hair (poliosis), or premature graying of the hair;
- Appearance of wide-set eyes due to a prominent, broad nasal root (dystopia canthorum)—particularly associated with type I) also known as telecanthus;
- Moderate to profound hearing loss (higher frequency associated with type II);
- A low hairline and eyebrows that touch in the middle.
- Patches of white pigmentation on the skin have been observed in some people. Sometimes, abnormalities of the arms, associated with type III, have been observed.
- Type IV may include neurologic manifestations.
Waardenburg syndrome has also been associated with a variety of other congenital disorders, such as intestinal and spinal defects, elevation of the scapula, and cleft lip and palate. Sometimes this is concurrent with Hirschsprung disease.
Read more about this topic: Waardenburg Syndrome
Famous quotes containing the word symptoms:
“The human condition is such that pain and effort are not just symptoms which can be removed without changing life itself; they are the modes in which life itself, together with the necessity to which it is bound, makes itself felt. For mortals, the “easy life of the gods” would be a lifeless life.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Murderous desire, hatred, distrust are nowadays the accompanying signs of physical illness: so thoroughly have we embodied our moral prejudices.—Perhaps cowardice and pity appear as symptoms of illness in savage ages. Perhaps even virtues might be symptoms.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)