Eye-Opening Findings
The patient described the visual facial distortions as “severely stretched features, with deep grooves on the forehead, cheeks, and chin.” Even though these faces were distorted, he was able to recognize the people he saw.
Because the patient reported no distortion when viewing facial images on a screen, researchers asked him to compare what he saw when he looked at the face of a person in the room to a photograph of the same person on a computer screen.
The patient alternated between observing the in-person face, which he perceived as distorted, and the photo on the screen, which he perceived as normal.
Researchers used real-time feedback from the patient and photo-editing software to manipulate the photo on the screen until the photo and the patient’s visual perception of the person in the room matched.
“This is the first time we have actually been able to have a visualization where we are really confident that that’s what someone with PMO is experiencing,” said Dr. Duchaine. “If he were a typical PMO case, he would look at the face in real life and look at the face on the screen and the face on the screen would be distorting as well.”
The researchers discovered that the patient’s distortions are influenced by color; if he looks at faces through a red filter, the distortions are greatly intensified, but if he looks at them through a green filter, the distortions are greatly reduced. He now wears green-filtered glasses in certain situations.
Dr. Duchaine hopes this case will open the eyes of clinicians. “These sorts of visual distortions that your patient is telling you about are probably real, and they’re not a sign of broader mental illness; it’s a problem limited to the visual system,” he said.
The research was funded by the Hitchcock Foundation. The authors reported no relevant conflicts of interest.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.