He sees faces with horrible demonic deformities: a man thinks he is going mad, but is actually suffering from a rare disease.

Seeing the faces of people with demonic symptoms is a particularly disturbing symptom suffered by 58-year-old American Victor Sharah. It describes horrific distortions. The pointed ears, the drawn features, the slashed smile like a joker… he thought he was going crazy! Scientists have discovered this extremely rare disease through a complete battery of tests. Man suffers Very rare visual disturbanceCalled prosopomamorphopsia (PMO), it distorts the face without detracting from their identity, explains Le Monde.

“A 58-year-old man, who had been seeing people’s faces distorted for 31 months and had, in his words, a “monstrous” appearance, came to our laboratory for evaluation.” The Lancet reports a study published by American neurologists and psychologists at Darmouth College in Hanover (New Hampshire). This man describes “Very drawn facial features, with deep furrows on the forehead, cheeks and chin”a A visual feature that only applies to humansVision of objects such as houses or cars is not affected. “The patient said that even though the faces were distorted, he was still able to recognize who they were. Notably, he reported no distortions when viewing images of faces on a screen or on paper. These distortions were “not accompanied by delusions.” about the identity of the people he met, such as his family or friends”Study continues.

The man has an extensive medical history: bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, head trauma. He also suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. His strange visual disturbance appeared four months later. Examinations revealed no ophthalmic problems. MRI on the other hand shows that Hippocampal lesions in the left hemisphere of the brain, detail to our colleagues, which lead to his shift. The diagnosis was established: this man suffers from prosopametamorphopsia.

The causes of prosopametamorphopsia are varied. This disorder can occur in the context of head trauma, cerebral infarction, epilepsy, migraine or persistent hallucinations. Very rare cases but many have already been reported.