Rare diseases · Sign or symptom
Prominent metopic ridge
HP:0005487
What it means
Vertical bony ridge positioned in the midline of the forehead.
The ridge may extend from the hairline to the glabella or may be partial. The frontal suture of the skull is a dense connective tissue structure that divides the two halves of the frontal bone of the skull in infants and children and usually undergoes closure by the age of six years. A persistent frontal suture is known as a metopic suture or sutura frontalis persistens. This can lead to a ridged appearance of the forehead.
Rare diseases that can present with this36
Very common80–99%
7Common30–79%
13- 20q11.2microduplication syndrome
- 2q31.1microdeletion syndrome
- 9q33.3q34.11microdeletion syndrome
- Aymé-Gripp syndrome
- Bohring-Opitz syndrome
- FOXG1 syndrome due to 14q12 microdeletion
- Isolated permanent neonatal diabetes mellitus
- Lateral meningocele syndrome
- Lathosterolosis
- Microcephaly-facial dysmorphism-ocular anomalies-multiple congenital anomalies syndrome
- Neurodevelopmental disorder-craniofacial dysmorphism-cardiac defect-skeletal anomalies syndrome
- Severe neonatal hypotonia-seizures-encephalopathy syndrome due to 5q31.3 microdeletion
- Weiss-Kruszka Syndrome
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: Prominent frontal ridge · Prominent frontal suture · Prominent metopic suture · Ridging of frontal suture · Ridging of metopic suture
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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.