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" 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 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 "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".^[7][8][9]

In March 2019, Tanya Suarez removed her own eyes in a San Diego, California county jail while under the influence of methamphetamine. She is currently suing the 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]

References[]