Rare diseases · Sign or symptom
Narrow face
Decreased breadth of face
HP:0000275
What it means
Bizygomatic (upper face) and bigonial (lower face) width are both more than 2 standard deviations below the mean (objective); or, an apparent reduction in the width of the upper and lower face (subjective).
Objective measurement of the upper facial width is made with spreading calipers. The tips of the calipers are passed over the zygomatic arches until the maximum width is determined. Objective measurement of the lower faces is made with spreading calipers, with the tips firmly pressed against the inferomedial surface of the angle of the mandible.
Rare diseases that can present with this49
Very common80–99%
15- Atypical Werner syndrome
- Bangstad syndrome
- Carpenter syndrome
- Christianson syndrome
- CK syndrome
- Craniofacial-deafness-hand syndrome
- Dysmorphism-cleft palate-loose skin syndrome
- Fetal alcohol syndrome
- Harrod syndrome
- Lateral meningocele syndrome
- Microbrachycephaly-ptosis-cleft lip syndrome
- Radioulnar synostosis-developmental delay-hypotonia syndrome
- Seckel syndrome
- Williams syndrome
- X-linked intellectual disability, Golabi-Ito-Hall type
Common30–79%
21- 22q11.2duplication syndrome
- Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome
- Bloom syndrome
- Camptodactyly syndrome, Guadalajara type 1
- CHARGE syndrome
- Dubowitz syndrome
- Fragile X syndrome
- Lujan-Fryns syndrome
- Malan overgrowth syndrome
- Marfan syndrome
- Oculocerebrofacial syndrome, Kaufman type
- Oculofaciocardiodental syndrome
- Renpenning syndrome
- Robin sequence-oligodactyly syndrome
- Severe oculo-renal-cerebellar syndrome
- Sheldon-Hall syndrome
- Sotos syndrome
- Velo-facial-skeletal syndrome
- Werner syndrome
- X-linked intellectual disability, Porteous type
- X-linked intellectual disability, Snyder type
Sometimes5–29%
13- 2q31.1microdeletion syndrome
- 3q29microdeletion syndrome
- Acro-renal-mandibular syndrome
- Adult-onset nemaline myopathy
- Baller-Gerold syndrome
- Childhood-onset nemaline myopathy
- Congenital multicore myopathy with external ophthalmoplegia
- Polyhydramnios-megalencephaly-symptomatic epilepsy syndrome
and 5 more in this range
The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.
Part of the broader category
Also called: Decreased horizontal dimension of face · Decreased transverse dimension of face · Decreased width of face · Horizontal deficiency of face · Horizontal hypoplasia of face · Horizontal insufficiency of face · Narrow facies · Thin face
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Start free with EleplanThis page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.