Self-enucleation

Self-enucleation also known as autoenucleation or oedipism is the self-inflicted enucleation (removal) of the eye. It is considered a form of self-mutilation and is normally caused by psychosis, paranoid delusions or drugs.[1] Between 1968 and 2018 there were more than 50 documented cases of "complete or partial self-enucleation in English medical journals".[2] According to a 2012 study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, self-enucleation may be "considered to be the result of psycho-sexual conflicts".[3] A particularly extreme form of self-mutilation, self-enucleations are rarely reported.[4][5]

History

A famous case of self-enucleation can be founded in Greek mythology： Oedipus, according to Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus Rex, gouged his own eyes out after discovering he had married his mother.

In the 13th century, Marco Polo witnessed a pious Baghdad carpenter who enucleated his right eye for sinful thoughts of a young female customer.

On February 6, 2018, a 20-year old American teen mom Kaylee Muthart received national attention after she gouged both her eyes out while high on methamphetamine believing "sacrificing her eyes [would] save the world".[2] Muthart is now permanently blind, though she said "I'm happier now than I was before all this happened".[6][7][8]

References
  1. NP Jones (1990-09-01). "Self-enucleation and psychosis". The British Journal of Ophthalmology. 74 (9): 571–573. doi:10.1136/bjo.74.9.571. PMC 1042215. PMID 2393650.
  2. Kee, Caroline (2018-03-14). "A 20-Year-Old Gouged Out Her Own Eyes While In A Drug-Induced Psychosis". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  3. Matthew Michael Large, Olav B Nielssen (24 July 2012). "Self-enucleation: forget Freud and Oedipus, it's all about untreated psychosis". British Journal of Ophthalmology. 96 (8): 1056–1057. doi:10.1136/bjophthalmol-2012-301531. PMID 22373824. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  4. K.N. Rao and Shamshad Begum (1996). "Self-enucleation in depression: A case report". Indian Journal of Psychiatry. 38 (4): 269–270. PMC 2970886. PMID 21584146.
  5. BB Patil (2004-04-07). "Bilateral self-enucleation of eyes". Nature. 18 (4): 431–432. doi:10.1038/sj.eye.6700667. PMID 15069443.
  6. Narins, Elizabeth (2018-03-09). "Kaylee Muthart Talks About Gouging Out Her Own Eyes On Crystal Meth". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  7. Feit, Noah (2018-02-22). "Mom of woman who gouged eyes out tells 'People' she was going to have her committed". thestate. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  8. Feit, Noah (2018-03-18). "'The world just got darker,' SC woman who gouged out her eyes talks about ordeal". thestate. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
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