An association between hemifacial microsomia and facial clefting

An association implies concurrence, more often than by chance, of 2 or more anomalies and suggests an etiopathologic link. The finding of ipsilateral labial clefts in 10% of HFM patients, and the differing demographic distribution from common labial clefts, suggests an overlapping pathogenesis. Whether the cause is genetic or environmental, we hypothesize that there may be a common pathway leading to a disturbance in neural crest cell migration in HFM patients who also have a facial cleft.