Background: Cryptophthalmos is a very rare congenital anomaly of the eye, which is characterized by skin passing continuously from the forehead to the cheek over a malformed eye. It is a condition that results from failure of eyelid formation. Autosomal recessive and autosomal dominant inheritance have been reported. The aim of this study is to report a very rare case of cryptophthalmos in a Nigerian child.
Case Report: A one month old male baby presented to the eye clinic of the Central Hospital, Ughelli, Delta State, Nigeria in February 2007 with a history of inability to open the right eye since birth. There was no family history of similar condition in the siblings. There was also no history of consanguinity. The child was otherwise healthy. There was no palpebral fissure over the right orbit. There was an irregular soft bulge on the right side of the right orbit. The left eyeball and eyelids were normal.
Conclusions: We report here a case of unilateral cryptophthalmos occurring in a Nigerian child. This to the best of our knowledge is the first reported case in Niger

Keywords: Nigeria