Q:I
keep reading about FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME (FAS) and physical
stigmata. Can you be specific as to what they are?
A:The
Research Society on Alcoholism has specified the minimal criteria
for FAS as abnormality in each of the following general categories:
Growth retardation (weight, length and
head circumference below 10th percentile).
Central nervous system involvement (signs
of neurological abnormality, developmental delays, intellectual
impairment).
Characteristic facial dysmorphology
(microcephaly, that is unnatural smallness of the head, small
eye opening, low nasal bridge, flat midface, abnormal smallness
of lower jaw, thin upper lip, indistinct groove on upper lip).
