midline cervical cleft (Differential Diagnosis Lateral Fistula)

There is an elongated midline defect of the skin visible which consists of a moist and reddish area, and a skin appendage, or a superfical dimple. Notice the mental fossa. This developmental anomaly called 'congenital midline cervical cleft' differs from a second branchial sinus in its site on the midline and by the absence of a duct with a distict cranial extension. In a thyroglossal duct cyst with chronic fistulous infection a cyst is palpable under the skin.