# Is chinlessness a condition? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-chinlessness-a-condition/373855 "2006-09-23T15:40:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-chinlessness-a-condition/373855/1 "2006-09-23T15:40:41Z")
Every once in a while I see someone who has practically no chin. Often there’s a sort of pucker in the skin where a chin would be. I did search google and other sources, but found mostly references to the term “chinless wonder”, etc. My personal sample is very small (my half-brother is one) but the few I have known seem to share some other attributes. Narrow shoulders, wide hips, a kind of timidity, and weak eyesight for example. What causes receding chin? Is it simply another of those differences that makes us unique? Or something more akin to, say, Downe’s Syndrome in it’s cause and in it’s effect on the person who has it? mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-chinlessness-a-condition/373855/2 "2006-09-23T15:49:19Z")
Yes, the most extreme cases are [Pierre Robin](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001607.htm) (pronounced “roban”) complex or syndrome. It’s also associated with other malformations such as cleft palate. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-chinlessness-a-condition/373855/3 "2006-09-23T17:27:06Z")
Other causes of micrognathia are listed here: > **[Micrognathia: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia](https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003306.htm)** > > Micrognathia is a term for a lower jaw that is smaller than normal. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-chinlessness-a-condition/373855/4 "2006-09-23T18:45:31Z")
Only on [Seinfeld](http://www.siyumhaseinfeld.com/eps/season8/810-TheAndreaDoria.html). ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-chinlessness-a-condition/373855/5 "2006-09-24T17:23:07Z")
I’ve seen an elderly woman who clearly had no chin, and probably no lower jaw at all. However, she did seem to have a tongue, because she spoke to me (though not very clearly). Whether this was a congenital condition or the result of a surgical operation (mandiblectomy? gnathectomy?) I am not sure. Perhaps she developed cancer of the jaw and had to have most or all of it removed.