Wikipedia / Unibrow
Wikipedia / Unibrow
A unibrow (or monobrow; called synophrys in medicine) is a single eyebrow created when the two eyebrows meet in the middle above the bridge of the nose. The hair above the bridge of the nose is of the same color and thickness as the eyebrows, such that they converge to form one uninterrupted line of hair.
History
The word monobrow first appeared in print in 1968, and the adjectival form monobrowed followed in 1973, in Martin Amis' novel The Rachel Papers. The first known use of the word unibrow was in 1981.
Culture and beauty
Some nations prize the unibrow. It is a sign of beauty among Baluchi Omanis, whose women sometimes draw a black line joining the brows as a part of their routine makeup to fake a unibrow. A study found the prevalence of synophrys to be at 11.87% in the Omani population. In Tajikistan, where the unibrow is similarly viewed as attractive, some women dry and extract a herb known locally as usma and daub it onto their brows to mimic one. Urban women may do the same with a kohl liner or a kajal pen.
The unibrow has largely been seen as undesirable in the Americas and Europe, with the hairs often plucked, shaved, or waxed away. Exceptions include the artist Frida Kahlo, famous for her unibrow, which she often depicted in self-portraits, the Greek-Cypriot model Sophia Hadjipanteli, and the Spanish actor Omar Ayuso.
The unibrow is also the trademark of the NBA player Anthony Davis, the football player Marouane Fellaini, and the YouTuber ElectroBOOM. The boxer Roberto Elizondo famously sported a unibrow during his professional career.
Medicine
Genetics
The unibrow is a genetic trait associated with the PAX3 gene; rare mutations of PAX3 have been shown to cause Waardenburg syndrome type 1 (85% of patients with this condition have a unibrow).
Medical conditions
A unibrow is part of normal human variation, but can also stem from developmental disorders. A unibrow is a recognized feature of Cornelia De Lange syndrome, a genetic disorder whose main features include moderate to severe learning difficulties, limb abnormalities such as oligodactyly (fewer than normal fingers or toes), and phocomelia (malformed limbs), and facial abnormalities including a long philtrum (the slight depression/line between the nose and mouth).
Other medical conditions associated with a unibrow include:
Amaurosis-hypertrichosis syndrome
Arrhinia with choanal atresia and microphthalmia syndrome
Blepharophimosis-ptosis-esotropia-syndactyly-short stature syndrome
Cognitive impairment – coarse facies – heart defects – obesity – pulmonary involvement – short stature – skeletal dysplasia syndrome
Cortical dysplasia, complex, with other brain malformations 11
Deafness, cataract, impaired intellectual development, and polyneuropathy
Developmental and epileptic encephalopathy 23, 66, 83, 84, 85 (with or without midline brain defects), 100, and 105 (with hypopituitarism)
Developmental delay with variable intellectual disability and dysmorphic facies
Developmental delay, impaired speech, and behavioral abnormalities
Early-onset progressive diffuse brain atrophy-microcephaly-muscle weakness-optic atrophy syndrome
Epilepsy, X-linked 2, with or without impaired intellectual development and dysmorphic features
Epilepsy-telangiectasia syndrome
Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and neurodevelopmental syndrome
Fontaine progeroid syndrome
Growth delay due to insulin-like growth factor I resistance
Holoprosencephaly 5, 7, and 11
Intellectual developmental disorder with or without peripheral neuropathy
Intellectual developmental disorder, autosomal dominant 64 and 65
Intellectual developmental disorder, autosomal recessive 68
Intellectual developmental disorder, X-linked, syndromic, with pigmentary mosaicism and coarse facies
Intellectual disability, autosomal dominant 29, 30, 34, 43, 48, and 52
Intellectual disability, autosomal recessive 5, 13, 16, 45, 46, and 61
Intellectual disability, X-linked 21, 73, 97, and 106
Intellectual disability, X-linked, syndromic 33
Intellectual disability-brachydactyly-Pierre Robin syndrome
Intellectual disability-facial dysmorphism syndrome due to SETD5 haploinsufficiency
Lissencephaly 6 with microcephaly
Macrothrombocytopenia-lymphedema-developmental delay-facial dysmorphism-camptodactyly syndrome
Mandibulofacial dysostosis-macroblepharon-macrostomia syndrome
Microcephaly 4, primary, autosomal recessive
Midface hypoplasia, hearing impairment, elliptocytosis, and nephrocalcinosis
Mitochondrial complex 4 deficiency, nuclear type 20
Mitochondrial complex III deficiency nuclear type 7
Mucopolysaccharidosis, MPS-III-A to -D
Neurodevelopmental disorder with dysmorphic facies and variable seizures
Neurodevelopmental disorder with facial dysmorphism, absent language, and pseudo-pelger-huet anomaly
Neurodevelopmental disorder with growth retardation, dysmorphic facies, and corpus callosum abnormalities
Neurodevelopmental disorder with microcephaly, short stature, and speech delay
Neurodevelopmental disorder with severe motor impairment and absent language
Neurodevelopmental disorder with spasticity and poor growth
Neurodevelopmental disorder with spasticity, cataracts, and cerebellar hypoplasia
Pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 7, 8, and 10
Severe feeding difficulties-failure to thrive-microcephaly due to ASXL3 deficiency syndrome
Skin creases, congenital symmetric circumferential, 2
Spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia, Genevieve type
Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, sensorineural hearing loss, impaired intellectual development, and leber congenital amaurosis
Syndromic X-linked intellectual disability Chudley-Schwartz type
Syndromic X-linked intellectual disability Nascimento type
Syndromic X-linked intellectual disability Siderius type
Syndromic X-linked intellectual disability Snyder type
Uruguay Faciocardiomusculoskeletal syndrome
Waardenburg syndrome types 1, 2A, and 3
Zimmermann-Laband syndrome 1, 2, and 3
See also
References
External links