It occurs in approximately 1 per 160,000 to 200,000 live births. Apert syndrome is primarily characterized by specific malformations of the skull, midface, hands, and feet. Apert syndrome is named for the French physician who first described it, E. Apert, in 1906. The Apert child's skull, by contrast, has a premature fusion of these plates, restricting brain growth, and causing increased pressure in the brain as it grows. This is known as craniosynostosis .
Early surgery relieves the pressures by allowing the plates to be detached from one another.
As the skull grows, the upper and lower thirds of the face tend to grow at normal rates, but the middle third of the face grows slower, resulting in a more pronounced retrusion over time. A surgical procedure known as the LeFort III is used to correct this condition. The LeFort procedure involves detaching the facial bones from mid eye to upper jaw and spacing this area out with bone grafts so that a proper alignment is made. The fusion of the fingers and toes along with the craniofacial problems mentioned above is what really separates Apert from other similar syndromes. This condition is called syndactyly.