Desbuquois syndrome (DBQD) is an osteochondrodysplasia characterized by severe micromelic dwarfism, facial dysmorphism, joint laxity with multiple dislocations, vertebral and metaphyseal abnormalities and advanced carpotarsal ossification. Two forms have been distinguished on the basis of the presence (type 1) or the absence (type 2) of characteristic hand anomalies. A variant form of DBQD, Kim variant (see these terms), has also been described and is characterized by short stature and articular, minor facial and significant hand anomalies.

With the hand relaxed and the thumb in the plane of the palm, the axis of the thumb forms an angle of at least 90 degrees with the long axis of the hand.