A Dennie–Morgan fold, also known as a Dennie–Morgan line or an infraorbital fold, is a fold or line in the skin below the lower

eyelid An eyelid is a thin fold of skin that covers and protects an eye. The levator palpebrae superioris muscle retracts the eyelid, exposing the cornea to the outside, giving vision. This can be either voluntarily or involuntarily. The human eyel ...

. It can simply be an ethnic/genetic trait, but was found in one study to occur in 25% of patients with

atopic dermatitis Atopic dermatitis (AD), also known as atopic eczema, is a long-term type of inflammation of the skin (dermatitis). It results in puritis, itchy, red, swollen, and cracked skin. Clear fluid may come from the affected areas, which often thickens o ...

. The presence of Dennie–Morgan folds can be used as a

diagnostic Diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in many different disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine " cause and effect". In systems engine ...

marker for

allergy Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derma ...

, with a sensitivity of 78% and specificity of 76% for

according to one study, although another study found them to be of diagnostic significance in

. Such folds are also common among certain ethnic groups such as Africans,

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

Balts The Balts or Baltic peoples ( lt, baltai, lv, balti) are an ethno-linguistic group of peoples who speak the Baltic languages of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. One of the features of Baltic languages is the number ...

and

Finnic peoples The Finnic or Fennic peoples, sometimes simply called Finns, are the nations who speak languages traditionally classified in the Finnic (now commonly '' Finno-Permic'') language family, and which are thought to have originated in the region of ...

, and are not known to be associated with any medical condition in these. The pathophysiology of this sign is not clear. One proposed mechanism is that continuous spasm of the

superior tarsal muscle The superior tarsal muscle is a smooth muscle adjoining the levator palpebrae superioris muscle that helps to raise the upper eyelid. Structure The superior tarsal muscle originates on the underside of levator palpebrae superioris and inserts ...

and skin edema could be due to hypoxia from poor circulation. A Dennie–Morgan fold should not be confused with an " allergic shiner", which is a purple-gray discoloration with associated fullness beneath the lower eyelid. This is related to the accumulation of blood and other fluid in the infraorbital groove resulting from nasal congestion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dennie-Morgan fold Immune system disorders

See also

References