The Face of Excess Cortisol: Clinical and Morphologic Insights Into Cushing Syndrome
Authors' conclusion
Compared with common obesity, hypercortisolism induces a redistribution of facial fat toward the mid and lower face regions, resulting in the characteristic appearance. This study of excessive endogenous cortisol secretion offers new clinical and facial morphologic perspectives on CS.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with cushing syndrome (CS) and obesity controls, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, 2022–2024age, sex and BMI matched
- Participants
- 42 vs 42
- Comparison
- CS vs obesity controls
- CSn = 42
- Controlsn = 42reference
- Outcome
- Facial fat distribution (3D photogrammetry)
Methodological detailssingle-centre, age, sex and BMI matched, 3-dimensional photogrammetry
- Single-centre
- Age, sex and BMI matched
- 3-dimensional photogrammetry
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Significant cheek and lower face fat accumulation in CS vs common obesity, more pronounced in lower face
- Fat accumulation in CS in both horizontal and depth dimensions
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Factors associated with CS facial features
- Age, sex, BMI, waist circumference, disease duration, cortisol and ACTH levels, and etiologic subtype
Support vector machine diagnostic model
- Accuracy
- 91.7%
- AUC
- 0.96
Original publication
The Face of Excess Cortisol: Clinical and Morphologic Insights Into Cushing Syndrome. Endocr Pract. Published 28 October 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →