The woman who sees human faces like Picasso’s paintings
Imagine if every time you looked at the faces of people you love, you saw their eyes popping out like something from a horror film and their features melting – that is the scary reality for sufferers of prosopometamorphosia.
Neurology consultants at Abu Dhabi’s Burjeel Hospital have seen what they claim is only the 13th reported case worldwide of the disease after “Beverly”, 54, complained of seeing the people around her with elongated, protruding eyes and half of their faces distorted.
Prosopometamorphosia is a rare visual perception disorder causing those with the condition to see distorted images of other people’s faces.
Some have described the faces of regular people and even loved ones as looking grotesque, with prominent teeth and scary eyes, while others have described faces as having a cartoon-like quality.
Some compare the faces seen to paintings by Picasso or something from the works of surrealist Salvador Dali.
In one of the few other cases reported, a woman, 52, at a psychiatric clinic in the Netherlands said that for her entire life, she had seen human faces turn into the faces of dragons.
“She could perceive and rec- ognise actual faces but after several minutes they turned black, grew long, pointy ears and a protruding snout, and displayed a reptiloid skin and huge eyes in bright yellow, green, blue or red,” it was reported in The Lancet.
She also saw dragon-like faces drifting towards her many times a day from the walls, electrical sockets or her computer screen.
What causes the condition remains unknown. First described in 1947, it is usually transient and attributed to structural brain changes or disorders such as epilepsy, migraine or eye disease.
Doctors speculate that it may involve abnormal activity in the areas of the brain that processes faces or an impairment in the transfer of visual information and memory function between the two hemispheres of the brain.
“Prosopometamorphosia is one of the world’s rarest neurological conditions,” said Dr Halprashanth DS, consultant neurologist at Burjeel Hospital. “Unsurprisingly, the disorder can be quite distressing for those affected and impacts on their quality of life.”
The distorted images seen depend on which part of the brain is affected. Beverly also sees flashes of bright lights that contain images, such as cars, which prevent her from driving.
It all started one day when she had taken her granddaughter to the pool.
“I suddenly didn’t feel right and asked to go home,” Beverly said.
She fell asleep when she got there and, later in the evening, when she went out with her husband, she suddenly started seeing images of cars in front of her and got an intense headache.
Six months later it started again, but this time the headaches were stronger so she went to see the doctor.
“When I looked at the doctor, it looked like his eyes were popping out,” Beverly said.
An initial examination by the neurological team returned normal results, but a MRI scan of her brain revealed that she had suffered a stroke.
Luckily, the doctor had seen a case of the rare condition before and Beverly tested positive for prosopometamorphosia.
“It was a scary experience, but now I’m aware of it,” she said.
And thankfully, she was prescribed medication and strict blood pressure control, and her visual perception has returned to normal.