by ultrasound due to the phenotype displaying pigmentary disturbances, facial abnormalities, and other developmental defects. After birth, the diagnosis is initially made symptomatically and can be confirmed through genetic testing. If the diagnosis is not made early enough, complications can arise from Hirschsprung's disease. Screening Screening generally only takes place among those displaying several of the symptoms of ABCD, but a study on a large group of institutionalized deaf people in Columbia revealed that 5.38% of them were Waardenburg patients. Because of its rarity, none of the patients were diagnosed with ABCD (Waardenburg Type IV). Treatment If the Hirschsprung's disease is treated in time, ABCD patients live otherwise healthy lives. If it is not found soon enough, death often occurs in infancy. Digestive problems from the colostomy and reattachment may exist, but most cases can be treated with laxatives. The hearing loss, which is usually degenerative, can only be treated with surgery or hearing aids. However, leaving hearing loss untreated may not reduce quality of life . History Dutch ophthalmologist Petrus Johannes Waardenburg (1886–1979) brought about the idea of Waardenburg syndrome when he examined two deaf twins. Waardenburg decided to define the syndrome with the six major symptoms that patients most commonly had. He defined "lateral displacement of the medial canthi combined with dystopia of the lacrimal punctum and blepharophimosis" referring to people with broader and flatter nasal bridges, which in turn leads to folds in the skin that cover the inner corners of the eye. Secondly, people who are born with a "prominent broad nasal root", have a widened area between the eyes, causing them to have a flatter and wider face, along with eyes farther apart than normal. Thirdly, "hypertrichosis of the medial part of the eyebrows" is present, meaning excessive hair growth in the patients’ eyebrow region, most likely leading to a unibrow. The fourth symptom, "white forelock", was commonly seen as depigmented strands of hair "Heterochromia iridis" indicates that the patient has two different colored eyes or two colors in the same eyes. "Deaf-mutism": People with the disorder are both deaf and mute. When scientists further investigated the syndrome, they realized that patients exhibited a wider range of symptoms of this disease in different combinations. This helped them distinguish forms of Waardenburg syndrome. Their evaluation consisted of specifying Waardenburg syndrome type I (WS1), type II (WS2), type III (WS3), and type IV (WS4). In 1995, a