The procerus sign (vertical wrinkling of the forehead) is a

medical sign Signs and symptoms are the observed or detectable signs, and experienced symptoms of an illness, injury, or condition. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature than normal, raised or lowered blood pressure or an abnormality showi ...

consisting of vertical

forehead In human anatomy, the forehead is an area of the head bounded by three features, two of the skull and one of the scalp. The top of the forehead is marked by the hairline, the edge of the area where hair on the scalp grows. The bottom of the fore ...

wrinkling around the bridge of the nose and the

glabella The glabella, in humans, is the area of skin between the eyebrows and above the nose. The term also refers to the underlying bone that is slightly depressed, and joins the two brow ridges. It is a cephalometric landmark that is just superior to ...

. This can be seen in neurodegenerative diseases such as

progressive supranuclear palsy Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a late-onset degenerative disease involving the gradual deterioration and death of specific volumes of the brain. The condition leads to symptoms including loss of balance, slowing of movement, difficulty ...

Definition

The procerus sign is defined as wrinkling around the bridge of the nose and the

Differential

The procerus sign can be seen in neurodegenerative diseases such as

(PSP). It is highly specific to PSP compared to other disorders involving

Parkinsonism Parkinsonism is a clinical syndrome characterized by tremor, bradykinesia (slowed movements), rigidity, and postural instability. These are the four motor symptoms found in Parkinson's disease (PD), after which it is named, dementia with Lewy b ...

Mechanism

Dystonia of the

procerus muscle The procerus muscle (or pyramidalis nasi) is a small pyramidal slip of muscle deep to the superior orbital nerve, artery and vein. ''Procerus'' is Latin, meaning tall or extended. Structure The procerus muscle arises by tendinous fibers from th ...

or the

corrugator supercilii muscle The corrugator supercilii muscle is a small, narrow, pyramidal muscle close to the eye. It arises from the medial end of the superciliary arch, and inserts into the deep surface of the skin of the eyebrow. It draws the eyebrow downward and media ...

leads to abnormal

muscle contraction Muscle contraction is the activation of tension-generating sites within muscle cells. In physiology, muscle contraction does not necessarily mean muscle shortening because muscle tension can be produced without changes in muscle length, such as ...

. It is present both when the

eyes Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and c ...

are open and when they are closed, including during

blinking Blinking is a bodily function; it is a semi-autonomic rapid closing of the eyelid. A single blink is determined by the forceful closing of the eyelid or inactivation of the levator palpebrae superioris and the activation of the palpebral porti ...

History

The procerus sign may also be known as "vertical wrinkling of the forehead" because it often does not just involve the

References

Medical signs {{Med-sign-stub