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 found 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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