Partial trisomy 6p is regarded as a distinct phenotype with short stature, failure to thrive, facial dysmorphisms with blepharophimosis, mental retardation and other malformations. An 18-month-old girl with typical features of partial trisomy 6p showed a de novo unbalanced translocation resulting in partial trisomy 6p21 to pter and partial monosomy 18p11 to pter. The translocation was observed in all fibroblasts analyzed, but only in 6% of the peripheral lymphocytes.