Lincoln May Have Had Facial Defect

[Kor37 9]

Lincoln May Have Had Facial Defect

By CARLA K. JOHNSON,AP

Posted: 2007-08-14 06:56:19

Filed Under: Health News, Science News

CHICAGO (Aug. 13) - Artists, sculptors and photographers knew Abraham Lincoln 's face had a good side. Now it's confirmed by science. Laser scans of two life masks, made from plaster casts of Lincoln's face, reveal the 16th president's unusual degree of facial asymmetry, according to a new study.

 

 

 

 

M. Spencer Green, AP

A mold of Abraham's Lincoln's face, likely made from a bronze copy of a life mask made shortly before the president's death, is seen here. The cast is one of two life masks used in a new study that found an unusual degree of asymmetry in Lincoln's face.

 

 

The left side of Lincoln's face was much smaller than the right, an aberration called cranial facial microsomia. The defect joins a long list of ailments -- including smallpox, heart illness and depression -- that modern doctors have diagnosed in Lincoln.

 

Lincoln's contemporaries noted his left eye at times drifted upward independently of his right eye, a condition now termed strabismus. Lincoln's smaller left eye socket may have displaced a muscle controlling vertical movement, said Dr. Ronald Fishman, who led the study published in the August issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.

 

Severe strabismus leads to double vision and can be treated today by surgery.

 

"Lincoln noticed double vision only occasionally and it did not bother him a great deal," said Fishman, a retired ophthalmologist and history buff.

 

Most people's faces are asymmetrical, Fishman said, but Lincoln's case was extreme, with the bony ridge over his left eye rounder and thinner than the right side, and set backward.

 

Lincoln's appearance was mocked by his political enemies, historians say. The author Nathaniel Hawthorne, a Lincoln fan, wrote of the president's "homely sagacity" and his "sallow, queer, sagacious visage," said Daniel Weinberg, owner of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago.

 

Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum described the left side of Lincoln's face as primitive, immature and unfinished.

 

When Lincoln was a boy, he was kicked in the head by a horse. Laser scans can't settle whether the kick or a developmental defect -- or neither -- contributed to Lincoln's lopsided face, Fishman said.

 

The scanning technique is usually used to create 3-D images of children with cleft lip and palate before and after surgery. Fishman teamed up with Dr. Adriana Da Silveira, an Austin, Texas, orthodontist who specializes in children with facial defects, to scan a bronze and a plaster copy of two life masks, owned by the Chicago History Museum.

 

Life masks were in vogue in the 1860s, said James Cornelius, curator at the Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill.

 

Lincoln cooperated with sculptors to make them twice, in 1860 before his first presidential nomination, and in 1865, two months before his assassination. Lincoln probably did it for political purposes more than posterity, Cornelius said.

 

"It's the equivalent of TV face time now," Cornelius said.

 

 

 

Thats weird. He looked perfectly fine on Star Trek........except for that spear sticking out of his back...........

[A l t e r E g o 9]

I wonder how much money was wasted discovering; nobodys perfect.

[BakulaBabe 2]

There didn't seem to be that much difference between the left and right side. It's an interesting story, but I don't see any reason for there to be a major write-up about something that appears so minor.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Facial deformities are neither minor nor insignificant to those who suffer from them - and the attending rejection by society can be particularly devasting to children.

 

As for assymetry - although the article says most faces are asymmetrical - most are a lot more symmetrical than not. In fact studies on "beauty" have found that symmetrical faces are one of the primary features of attraction. And being attractive versus unattractive can have a major impact on the quality of your life - affecting how much money you earn and whether or not you spend a large part of your alone or with companionship etc.

 

livescience

By questioning the study participants, Thornhill also found that men with higher degrees of symmetry enjoy more sexual partners than men of lower symmetry.

I'm guessing some people on this board would consider that important?

 

Aside from symmetry there are other features like heart shaped face, proportionate features and large wide set eyes. Here a couple of examples of pretty faces Please see my signature for another example.

 

 

Edited August 15, 2007 by TheUnicornHunter

[BakulaBabe 2]

As someone with a disfiguring neurological disorder,

 

Cervical Dystonia

 

I have an intimate, first-hand understanding society's rejection of those who are considered "less than perfect". My comment wasn't meant to trivialize the condition of facial asymmetry, and I apologize to anyone who may have thought that I was doing that. I was just thinking that, since Mr. Lincoln's facial asymmetry didn't appear severe in the photos (to me, anyway), it hardly warranted a scientific investigation. It did seem to be severe to others, though.

 

It's still an interesting story, and after thinking about it overnight, maybe the story will help others with a similar condition.

[trekz 7]

Sadly, society has never been kind to those that look or act differently. In Lincoln's time, his opponents jumped on his physical appearance and derided him, in words and cartoons, as ugly and apelike. Today criticism, though sometimes less savage, can be nearly as cruel.

 

The interest in Lincoln remains high for many, especially Lincoln buffs, so this article will be interesting to a number of people. Just as Star Trek references get us excited.

[Gummy 0]

I would go as far as to say that I have a facial deformity.

I chalk it up to having been born ugly.

[Kor37 9]

I would go as far as to say that I have a facial deformity.

I chalk it up to having been born ugly. :)

 

We know.....we've seen your pic........JUST KIDDING buddy!...

[Gummy 0]

I would go as far as to say that I have a facial deformity.

I chalk it up to having been born ugly. :)

 

We know.....we've seen your pic........JUST KIDDING buddy!...

Sammy says, "OUCH, Man!" :)