Name that eyelid

October 10, 2006 8:18 AM

ObscureFilter: What is the term/explanation for a certain type of eyelid shape of some folks of Northern and Eastern European background? My memory is hazy, but it's considered a genetic trait, and I know there's a name for it. I guess the appearance is best described as having two eyelid folds, the higher of which is more pronounced and drapes slightly over the lower fold. (See Bjork, for example.)
posted by veronica sawyer to society & culture (6 comments total)

Epicanthic folds.
posted by thejoshu at 8:19 AM on October 10, 2006

Thank you! That was driving me crazy.
posted by veronica sawyer at 8:24 AM on October 10, 2006

It's not just Northern/Eastern Europeans who have them. Wiki breaks it down nicely.
posted by DenOfSizer at 8:52 AM on October 10, 2006

Thanks, veronica sawyer and thejoshu - that was one of those things that I never knew I never knew. Hooray for AskMe...!
posted by penguin pie at 9:24 AM on October 10, 2006

I have those. It runs in the German side of my family. Interesting thread.
posted by Brittanie at 11:04 PM on October 10, 2006

P.S. My family always referred to it as having "hooded eylids".
posted by Brittanie at 11:05 PM on October 10, 2006