Moebius syndrome is currently being discussed by netizens on social media, after a psychiatrist named Andreas Kurniawan told about his son’s condition on his personal Twitter account @ndreamon.
Andreas told how the condition of his son, Hiro, was born with a super rare condition. “Hiro can’t cry, to be more precise Hiro can’t open his mouth, maybe even can only open as big as a straw of mineral water”.
Many netizens also ask, what exactly is Moebius syndrome? According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, Moebius syndrome is a rare congenital condition that results from underdevelopment of the facial nerve that controls some eye movements and facial expressions. This condition can affect the nerves responsible for speaking, chewing, and swallowing.
“Hiro can’t cry, to be more precise Hiro can’t open his mouth, maybe even can only open as big as a straw of mineral water”
Abnormalities usually occur in the VII and VI nerves. As a result of this weak condition, sufferers cannot express facial expressions such as smiling, frowning, pursed lips, raising eyebrows, or closing the eyelids. Patients are also generally unable to move the eyes laterally or outward. Therefore, sufferers are often said to have a face like a statue.
People born with Moebius Syndrome usually have a small mouth (microstomia), a short tongue with a high and curved palate that affects the child’s speech, otherwise the teeth will grow out of alignment.
Not only that, Moebius Syndrome will cause the child’s eyes to experience dryness or irritation due to the eyelids that may not close completely when blinking or sleeping. But it turns out that it’s not just about the face, the disorder causes children with this condition to experience delays in the development of motor skills (such as crawling and walking), although most of them eventually do it.
The exact cause of Moebius Syndrome is still unknown, but it is possible that it is caused by genetic factors; if one of the parents suffers from the syndrome, the probability that the child will suffer from the syndrome is about 50 percent. In addition, other possible causes are due to lack or disruption of blood flow to the fetus while in the womb.
Treatment for sufferers of this syndrome is not easy, many medical personnel must be involved, such as neurologists, ophthalmologists, plastic surgeons, ENT specialists, and speech pathologists.
For facial nerve abnormalities, correction surgery will be performed by removing muscle or nerve grafts from other areas of the face or body.
The latest procedure that can be done is smile surgery. This procedure involves microvascular transfer of a muscle from the thigh (gralisis) to the face and connecting nerves that normally regulate the masseter muscle for chewing.
The cause of this syndrome is not known with certainty so that effective prevention can not be done.
