A disorder inherited as an autosomal dominant trait and marked by defective formation of elastic fibers that affects the skeleton, large arteries, suspensory ligaments of the lens of the eye, tendons, and joint capsules. If afflicts 1/5000 to 1/10,000 people, making it more common, for example, than cystic fibrosis. Sufferers have abnormally long slender extremities, spidery fingers (see figure a below), high palate, displacement of the lens, lax joints (see figure b below), and aneurysm of the aorta. There is speculation that Abraham Lincoln suffered from Marfan syndrome. First described by the pediatrician Antoine Marfan (1858-1942) in 1896.
Two physical characteristics of Marfan syndrome: spidery fingers (a) and lax joints (b).