Victor Shara has always been an outgoing person, but over the past three years he has found himself becoming more withdrawn.
That’s because, ever since Shara, 59, woke up one day in November 2020, people’s faces have become distorted, making them look, in his words, like “demons.”
“I woke up one morning and was shocked,” Shara told USA TODAY.
Shara is Prochromatopsia, or PMOa rare condition in which deep grooves appear on the forehead, cheeks, and chin, giving the appearance of severely elongated facial features, according to recent research. published In Lancet magazine.
Fearing what was happening, he sent a message to a bipolar disorder support group.
“This woman came back to me and said, ‘If you have five minutes and give me your phone number, I’ll explain what’s going on,'” Shara said. look back.
Desperate for answers and terrified, Shara answered the phone. That will give you some peace of mind.
“It was scary. I was ready to commit myself. I thought I had really flipped the lid,” Shara said.
How rare is PMO?
according to rar websitehindrancethere are only about 75 confirmed cases of PMO patients.
The condition varies from person to person, but is characterized by distortions in facial features, such as drooping, shrinking, enlarging, elongating, or changing position, the website says.
The causes of experiencing PMO are not fully understood, but research suggests that some cases may be related to head trauma, stroke, epilepsy, or migraines.
Shara said he suffered a head injury that required hospitalization 17 years ago. In 2007, while working as a long-haul driver, his trailer door got stuck. As he tried to unjam the handle, he fell backwards and hit his head on the concrete.
Research shows that head injury is one possible explanation for Shara’s PMO. The other was carbon monoxide poisoning, which Shara experienced just four months before his symptoms began.
Additionally, an MRI scan revealed lesions in the hippocampus of the brain.
Researchers create visualization of Shara’s distortions
Research shows that PMO usually means that your face looks distorted all the time. But in Shara’s case, the distortion only occurred when he was looking at someone in real life, not at a photo or on a computer screen.
This allowed researchers to create visuals to understand the distortions Shara was seeing.
“Through this process, we were able to visualize patients’ real-time perception of facial distortions,” lead author antonio melosaid a doctoral student in Dartmouth College’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in an article. published by the university.
The researchers took a photo of the person and showed the image to Shara on a computer screen. He then looked at the person’s face and told the researchers the differences he saw compared to the photo on the screen. That information was then used to create an image that was altered to match Shara’s description.
He says the images give Shara an idea of what he’s seeing, but they don’t tell the whole story about how traumatic the experience actually is.
“So your facial features move with you. It’s like, I don’t know how to say it, but you’re having a conversation with a character in an episode of Star Trek,” he explained.
raise awareness
Shara has spoken out publicly about her experience with PMO in hopes of raising awareness and support for people who may be experiencing these symptoms and don’t know what’s happening to them. He said he was doing so.
“This has exploded beyond my expectations. It’s a little overwhelming, but at the same time I’m excited to think it might help someone,” he said.
Research shows that it is not uncommon for people with PMO to be misdiagnosed.
“I have heard from multiple PMO patients that their psychiatrist has diagnosed them with schizophrenia and they are on antipsychotic medication when they have problems with their visual system.” brad duchenestudy author, and study principal investigator. social cognition lab Published at Dartmouth College.
Shara said the most important thing to her is “getting the word out so that people with visual impairments are not institutionalized or medicated for mental illness.” Ta.
