Haunting ‘Demon Faces’ Show What It’s Like to Have Rare Distorted Face Syndrome

A 58 - year - old man with a rare medical condition see faces normally on filmdom and paper , but in person , they take on a unholy calibre . The patient role has a alone eccentric of prosopometamorphopsia ( PMO ) , a condition that causes peoples ’ faces to seem deformed , reptilian , or otherwise inhuman .

A new studypublishedin The Lancet describes the slip , which is alone in that , to the human , the faces only appear demonic when the individuals are physically present . The patient has been perceive faces as colour for 31 month ; at first , it was distressing to him , but now , he has “ become habituated to them , ” the theme Department of State .

Because faces come along ordinary to him on screens and in soul , the research squad had a unique opportunity to poke into how the distortions evidence and make accurate visual image of the “ fiendish ” visage .

Male (top) and female (bottom) faces as perceived by the study patient.

Male (top) and female (bottom) faces as perceived by the study patient.Image: A. Mello et al.

“ In other study of the condition , patients with PMO are ineffectual to assess how accurately a visual image of their aberration represent what they see because the visualization itself also depicts a facial expression , so the affected role will comprehend optical aberration on it too , ” say Antônio Mello , a investigator at Dartmouth College and lead author of the study , in a university release . “ Through the process , we were able to visualize the patient ’s real - time perception of the cheek distortions . ”

For the patient , faces in person are unsettlingly distorted . Eyes are stretched and angular , anterior naris burst out out and brim stretch outwards to comprise the intact breadth of the brass . Grooves seem in the forehead , and ears distort into an elvish shape , terminate in acute points . In milder cases , facial features only droop , seem out of place , or are smaller or big than they are in tangible life .

In another character , publishedin The Lancet in 2014 , a 52 - year - onetime woman in The Netherlands reported :

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A life - farseeing account of seeing people ’s faces modification into Draco - similar face and hallucinating like faces many time a daylight . She could perceive and recognize actual cheek , but after several hour they turned black , originate long , pointy ear and a protruding snout , and displayed a reptiloid skin and huge eyes in burnished xanthous , greenish , blue , or red-faced . She saw like dragon - similar faces drifting towards her many time a daylight from the walls , electrical sockets , or the electronic computer screenland , in both the front and absence of face - like patterns , and at dark she view many dragon - comparable faces in the darkness .

According to Brad Duchaine , senior source on the work and principal researcher of Dartmouth ’s Social Perception Lab , people suffering from PMO are often name with other disorder , like schizophrenic psychosis , and dictate anti - psychotic person .

“ It ’s not uncommon for people who have PMO to not tell others about their problem with face sensing because they dread others will suppose the distortions are a star sign of a psychiatrical disorder , ” Duchaine said . “ It ’s a problem that people often do n’t see . ”

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The 58 - year - old patient had a history of bipolar affective disorder and post - traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) , the research squad noted , as well as a headway hurt when he was 43 years previous . The patient had no impairments to sightedness and a small-scale round lesion on his left hippocampus , which the squad concluded was a vesicle . Other individuals stand from anAlice in Wonderland syndrome(a taking into custody - all term for perceptual deformation ) also were report to have mentality lesions ; encephalitis , migraines , and psychotropic drug use are also linked with the syndrome , though none were observe in the recent patient ’s case .

To qualify the facial distortion , the researchers had the man depict perceive difference between the face of a person in the room with him and a photo of that person . Due to his PMO , the in - individual case was distorted , and the on - cover face looked like an ordinary typeface .

PMO can last just days for some , and long time for others . Only 75 case written report of PMO have been published , according to the researcher . It ’s sure as shooting one of the rarified — and more disturbing — perceptual disorders , but knowing how it manifest means that fewer patient will be misdiagnosed in the future tense .

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