Abstract: If you think you've got it bad...

...be grateful you don't have this. I for one am grateful that I had thirty-plus years of life without dry eye. Starting out life with it is not a good thing.

[The lacrimo-auriculo-dento-digital syndrome (LADD): case report and literature review]
Arq Bras Oftalmol. 2009 Sep-Oct;72(5):715-8.
[Article in Portuguese]
Caluff PR, Silva AL, Mascaro VL, Neustein I.

Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brasil. paulacaluff@gmail.com

Levy-Hollister or lacrimo-auriculo-dento-digital (LADD) syndrome is a rare entity with autossomic dominant inheritance occuring as an isolated form or affecting many family generations. Diagnosis is based on the identification of the lacrimal drainage system abnormalities with reduction or absence of tear production and bone, teeth, salivar glands and outer ear abnormalities. A 13 year-old male patient has been followed at the Hospital Servidor Público Estadual in São Paulo due to dry eye since his first year of life. Due to the occurrence of early ocular manifestations in patients with Levy-Hollister or lacrimo-auriculo-dento-digital syndrome, ophthalmologists must be aware to recognize and control this syndrome.