Focal Dermal Hypoplasia (FDH) or Goltz syndrome is a rare multi-system disorder with cutaneous, ocular, dental, and skeletal anomalies due to dysplasia of mesoectodermal derived tissues. It is an X-linked inheritance syndrome caused by mutations in the PORCN gene. This study is aimed to investigate the ocular findings in patients with Goltz syndrome. To date, there have been a limited number of
case reports on the ocular manifestations of FDH. This is a prospective, non-consecutive, observational
case series. Prospective ophthalmologic evaluation was performed on 18 patients with confirmed genetic testing for FDH, Goltz Syndrome, as a component of a larger multi-subspecialty study to better characterize the findings of this condition. Special attention was placed on evaluating the incidence of anophthalmia, microphthalmia, colobomas (iris, optic nerve, and/or retinal), cataracts, nystagmus, and strabismus. A complete ophthalmologic exam was done on all the patients. The mean patient age was 12.8 years (1-55 years). Eighty-nine percent were female and 77% (14/18) of patients had some form of an ophthalmologic manifestation of the condition. Ophthalmological findings included chorioretinal colobomas (61%), iris colobomas (50%), microphthalmia (44%), anophthalmia (11%), cataracts (11%), and conjunctival and eyelid papillomas (5%). Nystagmus was present in 33% and strabismus in 22% of the patients. Visual acuity ranged from 20/20 to no light perception. This study demonstrates a higher incidence of ophthalmologic manifestations as previously reported (77% vs. 40%). To our knowledge, this is the largest
case series reported in the literature with 18 patients.