Self-enucleation

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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" even if psychosis is a more likely cause. [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's 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.

In the 19th century, Jews in the Pale of Settlement in eastern Europe sometimes resorted to self-mutilation, including blinding themselves in one eye, to avoid the Russian empire's onerous regime of military conscription. [6]

On February 6, 2018, a 20-year old American, Kaylee Muthart, received national attention after she gouged both her eyes out while high on methamphetamine, believing that "sacrificing her eyes [would] save the world". [2] The incident left Muthart permanently blind, though she later said "I'm happier now than I was before all this happened". [7] [8] [9]

In March 2019, Tanya Suárez removed her own eyes in a San Diego, California, county jail while under the influence of methamphetamine. She sued San Diego county, alleging that a sheriff's deputy watched her from outside her cell door but did nothing; video footage to that effect has reportedly been seen in court, but not released to the public. [10] In October 2022, she settled with the county for $4.35m. [11]

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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. 1 2 Kee, Caroline (2018-03-14). "A 20-Year-Old Gouged Out Her Own Eyes While In A Drug-Induced Psychosis". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on 2018-03-14. 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. S2CID   20826549. Archived from the original on 2018-03-16. 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. ↑ Taylor, Sharon (7 September 2020). "Dodging the Draft in the Old Country". The Librarians. National Library of Israel. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  7. ↑ Narins, Elizabeth (2018-03-09). "Kaylee Muthart Talks About Gouging Out Her Own Eyes On Crystal Meth". Cosmopolitan. Archived from the original on 2018-03-15. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  8. ↑ Feit, Noah (2018-02-22). "Mom of woman who gouged eyes out tells 'People' she was going to have her committed". thestate. Archived from the original on 2018-03-16. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  9. ↑ Feit, Noah (2018-03-18). "'The world just got darker,' SC woman who gouged out her eyes talks about ordeal". thestate. Archived from the original on 2018-03-14. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  10. ↑ Davis, Kelly (12 September 2021). "Lawsuit: Jail video shows deputy watched as inmate blinded herself". San Diego Union Tribune. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  11. ↑ Davis, Kelly (19 October 2022). "San Diego County will pay $4.35 million to woman who blinded herself in jail" . Retrieved 1 November 2022.
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