Rare disorder detected in a US man in which faces of other people appeared to him as demonic

A man in the United States was diagnosed with an exceptionally rare and unfamiliar disorder, wherein the faces of other individuals appeared distorted and demonic to him, despite maintaining sharp vision at all times.

This unusual ailment manifested abruptly in November 2020 when the man noticed an inexplicable transformation in people’s faces, rendering them demonic in his perception.

The noses, ears, and mouths of individuals began to appear elongated, while deep furrows emerged on their chins, cheeks, and foreheads.

Expressing his harrowing experience, 59-year-old Sharrah from Clarksville, Tennessee, recounted, “My first thought was I woke up in a demon world. You can’t imagine how scary it was.”

Upon sharing his distressing encounter with an acquaintance specializing in teaching visually impaired individuals, Sharrah was informed that he likely suffered from prosopometamorphopsia, or PMO.

Subsequently, he underwent formal diagnosis last year, confirming his suspicions.

What is PMO?

PMO stands as an exceedingly rare neurological disorder afflicting an individual’s perception, causing distortions in other people’s faces in terms of size, shape, color, or texture.

These distortions manifest solely when the individual afflicted with the ailment perceives others in real-life scenarios, excluding photographs or computer screens.

The case provided researchers with an opportunity to visualize how the distorted faces appeared to someone afflicted with PMO. Scientists from Dartmouth College created a digital representation mirroring Sharrah’s visual experiences. The digital rendition was published in The Lancet on Thursday (Mar 21).

For the creation of these visual depictions, researchers prompted Sharrah to articulate how the photographs of individuals differed from their real-life facial appearances.