The Hippocratic face (facies Hippocratica in Latin) is the change produced in the face by impending death or long illness, excessive evacuations, excessive hunger, and the like.
" appearance may be described thus: the nose sharp, the eyes sunken, the temples fallen in, the ears cold and drawn in and their lobes distorted, the skin of the face hard, stretched and dry, and the colour of the face pale or dusky…and if there is no improvement within, it must be realized that this sign portends death."
The Hippocratic face is so called because it was first described by Hippocrates.
A related term is cachexia.
Famous quotes containing the word face:
“There is a mortifying experience in particular, which does not fail to wreak itself also in the general history; I mean “the foolish face of praise,” the forced smile which we put on in company where we do not feel at ease, in answer to conversation which does not interest us. The muscles, not spontaneously moved but moved, by a low usurping wilfulness, grow tight about the outline of the face, with the most disagreeable sensation.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)