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Morning glow syndrome.
Last reviewed: 07.07.2025
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Morning glory syndrome is a very rare, usually unilateral, sporadic condition. Bilateral cases (even rarer) may be hereditary.
Symptoms
- Visual acuity is usually very low.
- Enlarged disc with funnel-shaped excavation.
- An island of whitish glial tissue, which is the persistent primary vitreous, lies at the bottom of the excavation.
- The disc is surrounded by a raised chorioretinal ring with impaired pigmentation.
- The blood vessels emerge from the edge of the excavation radially, like "spokes in a wheel." Their number is increased, and it is difficult to distinguish arteries from veins.
Complications: in 30% of cases, serous retinal detachment develops.
Systemic manifestations
Systemic manifestations are rare.
Frontonasal dysplasia is the most important. It is characterized by a complex of malformations.
- Facial skeletal abnormalities including hypertelorism, concave nasal bridge, cleft lip and hard palate.
- Nasal encephalocele, absence of corpus callosum and pituitary insufficiency.
Neurofibromatosis type II is rare.
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