The position of the external ear in Turner's syndrome

The cephalometric roentgenograms of persons with the syndrome of XO gonadal dysgenesis and its variants, and of those with Noonan's syndrome, were compared with a control sample of unaffected females matched for age. Posterior craniofacial relationships differ between XO and normal individuals, particularly in the region of the external auditory meatus, which is located relatively more inferiorly and anteriorly in XO gonadal dysgenesis subjects than in chromosomally normal persons. Individuals who are mosaics, and those with Noonan's syndrome, do not differ from the unaffected population to the same extent. Although the position of the auricle often changes appreciably with growth when judged by clinical criteria alone, cephalometric analysis of relative ear position may still support the diagnosis of "low-set" ears.