Visualization created based on description by Victor Sharrah.
For the first time, researchers have created facial illustrations based on the description of a patient suffering from “devil face syndrome”. The rare condition, formally known as protropia malia (PMO), has long been misdiagnosed as schizophrenia. “Prosopo” is Greek for “face,” and “metamorphopsia” describes transformation or distortion.according to nbc newsA man with PMO visited a Dartmouth College lab and described what he was experiencing, allowing medical experts to create a digital representation of what the man’s distorted face looked like.
Victor Sarah said he saw faces with ears, noses and mouths stretched back, and deep grooves in the forehead, cheeks and chin.
“My first thought was that I woke up in a demonic world. You can’t imagine how scary that is,” the 59-year-old told reporters nbc news.
The Clarksville, Tennessee, resident had a keen eye, but things suddenly changed in November 2020.
A friend then suggested he might have PMO and asked him to see a doctor. Mr Sarah thought the symptoms matched and was officially diagnosed last year.
“When I look at a person, that face is moving, it’s talking, it’s gesturing. So that really adds to the effect of it,” the man said.
Another strange fact about neurological disorders is that the distortion only occurs when Mr Sarah sees people in person – not through photos or computer screens.
His vivid descriptions enabled scientists to create distorted digital images that they had never been able to do before.The resulting image was published Thursday in lancet.
Research shows that PMO symptoms subside after a few days or weeks, but may persist for years in some cases. Four years later, Mr. Sarah still sees the photos.
What is facial dysmorphia?
Based on an analysis of the symptoms of the rare disease, researchers suspect it is caused by a dysfunction in the brain network that handles face processing. However, they don’t fully understand what triggers this condition.
Some patients are diagnosed with the condition after head trauma, stroke, epilepsy or migraines.
There are fewer than 100 published case reports of PMO.
