Association of Ectopia Lentis With Arachnodactyly

Marfan in 1896 described a peculiar syndrome, appearing usually in children, characterized especially by lengthening and thinning of the bones of the extremities. He considered the condition to be congenital or familial and suggested for it the name dolichostenomelia. In 1902 Mery and Babonneix reexamined Marfan's patient and considered the general defects due to failure of normal development of the epiphyses In the same year Achard described a case of this syndrome in which the hereditary or familial features were marked, and because of the peculiar long, thin and tapered, clawlike finger-ends he suggested the present name arachnodactyly ("spider digits"). This name still persists though many variations of this syndrome with various accompaniments have been observed and the term is no longer entirely descriptive. Pediatricians and orthopedists chiefly were interested, as most of the earlier cases were in children. Ormond, in 1924, first drew particular attention to the ocular