A case of morning glory syndrome

Abstract

Morning glory syndrome is a rare condition defined as congenital anomaly. It was first described by Reis in 1908, but it was named by Kindler due to its resemblance to the morning glory flower. We here report the case of a 7-year-old boy presenting with alternating convergent strabismus. The patient had no family history. Ophthalmologic examination showed visual acuity 9/10 in the right eye and 5/10 in the left eye, without correction. The anterior segment and tone were normal in both eyes. Fundus examination in the right eye was normal, while in the left eye it revealed large papillary excavation, partially occupied by glial tissue, which partially masked the retinal vessels spreading radially over its entire circumference. Some of them were uninhabited, evoking congenital malformation of the optic nerve head. Computed tomograpghy (CT) scan revealed left papillary coloboma, thus eliminating any morphological anomaly of the pathway of the optic nerve in its intra-orbital, intracanal and encephalic portions. Chiasma was normal. No cranio-encephalic malformation was found elsewhere.