Anterior segment dysgeneses (ASGD or ASMD) are a heterogeneous group of developmental disorders affecting the anterior segment of the eye, including the cornea, iris, lens, trabecular meshwork, and Schlemm canal. The clinical features of ASGD include iris hypoplasia, an enlarged or reduced corneal diameter, corneal vascularization and opacity, posterior embryotoxon, corectopia, polycoria, an abnormal iridocorneal angle, ectopia lentis, and anterior synechiae between the iris and posterior corneal surface (summary by Cheong et al., 2016).
Anterior segment dysgenesis is sometimes divided into subtypes including aniridia (see 106210), Axenfeld and Rieger anomalies, iridogoniodysgenesis, Peters anomaly, and posterior embryotoxon (Gould and John, 2002).
Some patients with ASGD3 have been reported with the following subtypes: iridogoniodysgenesis, Peters anomaly, Axenfeld anomaly, and Rieger anomaly.
Iridogoniodysgenesis, which is characterized by iris hypoplasia, goniodysgenesis, and juvenile glaucoma, is the result of aberrant migration or terminal induction of the neural crest cells involved in the formation of the anterior segment of the eye (summary by Mears et al., 1996).
Peters anomaly consists of a central corneal leukoma, absence of the posterior corneal stroma and Descemet membrane, and a variable degree of iris and lenticular attachments to the central aspect of the posterior cornea (Peters, 1906).
In Axenfeld anomaly, strands of iris tissue attach to the Schwalbe line; in Rieger anomaly, in addition to the attachment of iris tissue to the Schwalbe line, there is clinically evident iris stromal atrophy with hole or pseudo-hole formation and corectopia (summary by Smith and Traboulsi, 2012). [from
OMIM]