FACS SYNDROME - WHAT IS THIS?

Anti Convulsants (AEDs)are prescribed for many things such as :

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Epilepsy

Depression

Pain Relief

Bipolar Disorder

Mood Swings

Migraine

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Fetal Anti Convulsant Syndrome (FACS) is diagnosed by a medical specialist when the child of a mother who has needed to take anticonvulsant drugs during pregnancy has a combination of specific physical malformations, characteristic facial features and/ or neuro- development or cognitive difficulties, and no other cause can be found for these problems.

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FACS is thought to arise because some anti-convulsants taken to treat conditions such as Epilepsy etc pass through the placenta and into the developing fetus.  It is also dependant on the dosage that the mum has been prescribed so for example the higher the dosage of medicine the more possibilities of the child having FACS.  Our recent figures show that around 1300 babies are born each year in the UK with FACS.  A figure that is continuously growing as more ladies are being prescribed AEDs to control various illness.

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