Seeing A Face Like A Devil, This Man Experiences Rare Brain Disorders PMO

Rare brain disorders (doc. Cnn)

JAKARTA - In the world of neurology, there is a very rare but terrible condition, namely prosopometamorphopsia (PMO). This is a specific visual perception perturbation in which the brain processes the faces of others distortedly.

As a result, the visible face can look curved, damaged, or resemble a horror creature, when in fact it is not.

PMO is different from prosopagnosia or face blindness, where sufferers are unable to recognize their faces, including those closest to them. In PMO, facial recognition is still intact, but facial appearance turns into a frightening or unrealistic form.

"Prosopometamorphopsia is not a hallucinations, it's not a mental disorder either. It's a brain error in processing faces," explained Dr. Brad Duchaine, professor of brain psychology of Dartmouth College, quoted from the CNN page.

According to research published in the journal The Lancet, PMO is very rare and only has 81 cases officially worldwide until 2021.

However, the actual number is expected to be much more, as the symptoms are often misinterpreted as symptoms ofterisk or other symptomatic disorders.

One of them is the story of Victor Sharrah, a 59-year-old man from Nashville, Tennessee, who became the medical world's attention when he admitted to seeing people's faces around him turn scary.

"I sat watching TV when my friends at my house came in. I was immediately confused, because his face looked strange. Then his girlfriend came, and his face was the same, I had a distortion," Victor said.

The faces Victor saw looked like demons, like elongated eyes, scary smiles, and pointed ears like science fiction characters.

"It feels like looking at the devil. Imagine you wake up early and everyone in the world looks like a creature from a horror movie," he said.

Victor explained that this distortion is consistent. Everyone who is seen directly has frightening visual characteristics, but can still recognize who they are.

Not only is the shape of the faces changing, but the faces are also moving, talking, and showing expressions in a way that Victor thinks is terrible.

"What's hard to explain is that the faces are alive. They are looking at me, talking, smiling. It was really scary even though I knew it wasn't real," he said.

Researchers from Dartmouth College, who researched Victor's condition, explained that damage or disorders to the brain called gyrus fusion are likely to be the cause of this condition. This area of the brain does play a role in facial recognition and shape.

In a state of severe depression because he was unable to live with the "devil's face" around him, Victor uploaded his experience on Facebook. This story was discovered by Catherine Morris, a volunteer from Wyoming who has experience working with people with visual disorders.

Morris suspected the color of the light might affect Victor's facial perception, then they experimented with smart lights that could change color and intensity remotely.

Since then, Victor has been wearing special green lens glasses for a long time. With these glasses, he can see other people's faces normally, including his grandchildren who have just been met for the first time.

"I was finally able to see the face of my grandchildren. They looked like normal children. It felt like I was getting my life back," he said.

Victor is now working with the research team at Dartmouth College to test color-based therapy and facial symmetry. One promising approach is to display a face with perfect symmetry, which is known to reduce distortion.

"If this approach is successful, we can create special glasses that help people with PMO see a face more normally," said Ant Marijuana Mello, the main researcher behind Victor's case study.

In addition, Victor is also the first subject to successfully describe the distortion seen accurately.

"For the first time, we were able to show the world exactly what the faces of the PMO sufferers are." added Dr. Duchaine.