I am posting this for informational purposes only. Avery has a harmless facial oddity that I am documenting here because I can include diagrams and pictures. Pinching Avery to make her cry just so someone can see her mouth is just plain FUN! mean.
Avery was born with a squiffy smile. I was doing some Googling and found some British parenting message board that described her condition as "squiffy mouth". I Googled squiffy and came up with a British slang word for drunk.
When Avery was born, I got to see her for 10 minutes or so before she was taken to the nursery and then transferred to the other hospital, but I noticed her lopsided mouth in those few minutes.
The NICU discharge papers noted "possible depressor angularis oris absence". Her pediatrician said the muscle is missing or underdeveloped. The muscle is the one on the corner of your mouth that brings that side of your mouth down. So the side of Avery's mouth that is affected is not the "droopy" side, but the one that isn't drawn down.
Here is a picture of her at 8 weeks. She is clearly very angry and shows her frown/cry face very clearly. The left side (Avery's left) of her mouth is the affected side. It is supposed to be drooping like the other side, but it doesn't.
The physical therapist was thinking of stimulating that side of her mouth so she builds up some strength over there because she doesn't close her mouth very well now. She needs to check with her therapist comrades first. My Speech Language Pathologist friend suggested having a speech evaluation earlier rather than later to prevent eating and speech problems in the future.
Here is another thing for you to Google.
Congenital Hypoplasia of Depressor Angularis Oris Muscle
Congenital- Exists at birth or before birth
Hypoplasia-Underdevelopment or incomplete development
Depressor Angularis Oris-The muscle in question (see highlighted muscle in diagram)
I love her crooked smile. Between her crooked neck and her sideways mouth, I think it all balances out. My dad says Ellen Barkin has a crooked mouth and is beautiful.
Avery was born with a squiffy smile. I was doing some Googling and found some British parenting message board that described her condition as "squiffy mouth". I Googled squiffy and came up with a British slang word for drunk.
When Avery was born, I got to see her for 10 minutes or so before she was taken to the nursery and then transferred to the other hospital, but I noticed her lopsided mouth in those few minutes.
The NICU discharge papers noted "possible depressor angularis oris absence". Her pediatrician said the muscle is missing or underdeveloped. The muscle is the one on the corner of your mouth that brings that side of your mouth down. So the side of Avery's mouth that is affected is not the "droopy" side, but the one that isn't drawn down.
Here is a picture of her at 8 weeks. She is clearly very angry and shows her frown/cry face very clearly. The left side (Avery's left) of her mouth is the affected side. It is supposed to be drooping like the other side, but it doesn't.
The physical therapist was thinking of stimulating that side of her mouth so she builds up some strength over there because she doesn't close her mouth very well now. She needs to check with her therapist comrades first. My Speech Language Pathologist friend suggested having a speech evaluation earlier rather than later to prevent eating and speech problems in the future.
Here is another thing for you to Google.
Congenital Hypoplasia of Depressor Angularis Oris Muscle
Congenital- Exists at birth or before birth
Hypoplasia-Underdevelopment or incomplete development
Depressor Angularis Oris-The muscle in question (see highlighted muscle in diagram)
6 comments:
it reminds me of popeye's smile :)
Doesn't Alex have the same condition?
No mom, he just drinks out of the side of his mouth. Nick was making a joke when he says that. :)
Didn't know NIck said anything. I just noticed his smile in couple of pictures. I was probably drinking at the time and was seeing life a bit skewed, right?
I think Sean Casey from Storm Chasers has a squiffy smile too, and he's a cutie. I tried finding a picture of him smiling to attach here, but my work computer is being stupid and blocking everything.
Opposite Elvis! Cute!!!
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