Epicnathal folds

[Mamabec19]

My little one has epicanthal folds in the corners of his eyes at 15 months. He is in the 90th percentile for most measurements, 75th percentile for weight. He has hit all developmental milestones. He is just starting to walk and says many words clearly. I’m worried about the epicanthal folds though. Does anyone have experience with these? Did your child’s nasal bridge grow with age? Please help ease this mamas mind. I don’t want to always be looking for something wrong with my sweet baby boy and I feel like I’m going a bit crazy down the google rabbit hole.

Why are you worried? He is meeting all his milestones. Nothing to worry about.
Who has commented?

Mine all had them until puberty then they got big noses and they went away. Whilst they can be related to other conditions they can just be a kid thing too.

The pediatric dentist at his first dentist appointment mentioned his low nasal bridge. I hadn’t noticed it before.

DH and DS2 are of white european ancestry and both have them, it's perfectly normal if less common in some populations (like in Europe). I wouldn't worry solely on that basis unless milestones start being missed.

I had seen many posts that all children have them to some extent and it's perfectly normal

It’s only rarely a sign of anything amiss. Lots of countries have this as a facial feature- various Scandi regions, parts of Ireland, as well as Asia.
It’s popped up in our family randomly, nothing wrong at all.

Thank you all so much. I really appreciate your feedback.

Hi OP. My DD has a low nose bridge and a high arched-palette. She is disabled (very very obviously so) and - I’m absolutely not saying any of this to worry you - it’s always been assumed it’s part of her undiagnosed condition.
BUT - from my research epicanthal folds are also prevalent in some nationalities (I’m saying that rather than ethnic groups for a reason) ... now I’m Irish and my DH is British. But my brother has a son who is half-Irish and half Slovenian and he has epicanthal folds too. He’s perfectly normal.
But, he also closely resembles my daughter in looks (my daughter looks quite normal facially).
And when I look at my eyes I seem to have traces to epicanthal folds on one side (my DD and I share an oddity on a gene but I’m “normal”).
So, long story short, it might just be an ethnic inheritance - they are a common feature in Ireland and Poland apparently.
And your son sounds perfectly fine!!
It’s sometimes the case that children have epicanthal folds and grow out of them (as it were)
My DD didn’t have them at birth and on one side of her face it is only mildly noticeable.
Please don’t worry- if there was something wrong I’m sure there would be more signs.
Of course...none of us are totally “ normal” genetically..but that’s another day’s work.

Oh I went down this rabbit hole with one of mine because of epicanthal folds and hypermobility. I was convinced she had mosaic down syndrome, and even joined support groups on Facebook to look for more symptoms. I learnt that pretty much all children with mosaic down syndrome have some speech delay even if their physical features are unnoticeable, so when my dd's speech progressed quickly, I then found out that early language development can be a sign of turner's syndrome so I was then convinced she has mosaic turner's. She's fine, she grew out of the epicanthal folds. Step away from the internet diagnosis black holes .

It’s not only Asian people who have epicanthal folds. You can have them with Icelandic, Finnish, Norwegian and even some Irish/ Scottish heritage, as well as parts of Eurasia (parts of Russia, Mongolia etc). Ditto with some parts of Africa. It’s only a sign of issues coupled with no philtrum.

My son has a rare chromosome disorder ,,to look at him you wouldn't think there was anything ,tbh ,he doesn't have dysmorphic features etc he does have complex disabilities however ,I think if your child is meeting all his mile stones you probably don't have much to concern you ,maybe mention it to the health visitor?