Double pupil disease: an extremely rare congenital condition. Pupula Duplex - double pupil

For diplopia human eye sees objects in two. This happens because at the end point visual analyzer, located in the ora of the occipital lobe of the brain, the visual axis of one of the eyeballs deviates. As a result of this, the focus of the image of the object at which the gaze is directed falls not on the central fovea of ​​the retina, but on another part of it.

Pupula duplex or in common parlance the disorder “double pupil” leads to the fact that images are seen as a rootstock, while they are superimposed on each other under different angles. The disease diplopia itself does not form as an independent ailment. This disorder appears in the form of a syndrome that indicates more serious abnormalities in the human body.

Causes of diplopia of the eye

Double pupil arises as a result of diseases that, one way or another, affect motor function eyes. Objects can double for a number of reasons:

  • past infections such as diphtheria, rubella, mumps, tetanus;
  • as a result of traumatic brain injuries;
  • meningitis infection of the tuberculosis type;
  • multiple sclerosis;
  • neoplasms in the form of tumors in the head;
  • endocrine dysfunction thyroid gland, diabetes mellitus;
  • walls carotid artery expanded.

Also, the causes of diplopia lie in injuries to the eye orbit or a situation where the nerve is compressed and defects in the brain stem are formed.

IN everyday life can lead to diplopia alcohol intoxication or copious injections of Botox during cosmetic procedures.

If they were carried out surgical operations in order to cure retina, strabismus or cataracts, then double image is a complication.

Types of diplopia

The main feature of the classification of diplopia is the fact indicating whether one eye or both are affected. Depending on this, it happens:

  1. Monocular diplopia is very rare and only affects one eye. The anomaly can develop as a result eye injury, leading to separation of the iris, the appearance of a pair of false pupils or subluxation of the lens. In this form of the disease, closing the healthy eye does not lead to the affected organ seeing objects as non-bifurcated.
  2. Binocular diplopia is common and develops as a result of damage to the muscles for eye movement, with pathological processes in the tissues that surround the eye, pathologies nervous system. This type diseases are divided into motor, mixed, sensory, temporary or permanent, orbital and other pathologies.

In addition to these types of disorders, ophthalmologists also distinguish:

  1. Paralytic type - caused by paralysis of the muscles of the eyeball.
  2. Cross view – this disease causes maximum discomfort to patients, since the eye on the left cannot focus on images located on the right, and the eye on the left cannot focus on objects on the right side.

Symptoms indicating diplopia

The location of the images of forked objects is influenced by which eye muscles have lost their functions. In the case when the work of the oblique muscles is disrupted, the images, when looking at them, overlap each other. If the functions of the rectus muscles are impaired, then the bifurcated images appear parallel to each other. They can be located at an angle, can be shifted horizontally or vertically, and have different color effects in the form of brightness and contrast.

Symptoms of diplopia can be expressed:

  • Double vision for a long time.
  • It is a habit to tilt your head to the side to improve the clarity of images.
  • Strabismus, which can be clearly and imperceptibly expressed. In this case, one pupil is motionless, the second is shifted towards the nose.
  • Loss of orientation and feeling of dizziness.
  • Impact on human performance.

Methods for detecting diplopia

A patient who seeks help at the first sign of two pupils in one eye at once tells the ophthalmologist in detail exactly what symptoms he is experiencing and what preceded their occurrence. After this, the doctor begins the selected diagnostic methods.

  1. Examination of the eyes to identify defects. For a visual examination, the doctor uses an alkaline lamp.
  2. A drug called Proserin is administered, which helps determine the weakness of the eye muscles, reducing the severity of double vision.
  3. Using a blood test, diabetes mellitus is excluded or confirmed.
  4. If diplopia is caused by strabismus, then the doctor determines the coefficient of deviation from the axis of the eye.
  5. Tomography, ultrasound of the eye and MRI of the brain are performed to identify hidden head injuries, tumor formations or hemorrhages.

After all diagnostic procedures have been carried out and the reasons for the appearance of double pupils have been established, the patient may be assigned an additional consultation with a neurologist, psychiatrist, oncologist and other doctors.

How is double pupil treated?

Binocular and monocular diplopia is treated today based on the root cause of the disorder. In other words, therapy is prescribed depending on the disease that led to the bifurcation of the pupil.

Treatment of binocular type diplopia can be carried out in the following ways:

  • Special prisms are attached to glasses for a period of up to several months;
  • If the muscle responsible for controlling eye movement is weakened, then I resort to injecting botulinum toxin into it. After this, the muscle itself is not deprived of the ability to perform its function, which becomes more strong muscles. As a result of this method, the splitting of images disappears;
  • surgical intervention;
  • If all previous methods are ineffective, the lens is removed and replaced with an implant. This is very serious procedure for the installation of an intraocular lens, which is irreversible. If any defects or complications occur, the patient's vision may deteriorate significantly.

Monocular diplopia is treated in the following ways:

  • in case of curvature of the cornea, correction is carried out with lenses or glasses (prismatic correction);
  • Surgery is performed for cataracts.

Traditional methods of treating double pupil

Diplopia is treatable folk remedies only with the permission of the attending physician and in combination with the main therapy. Great option to strengthen the eye apparatus is simple gymnastics according to Dr. Bates' method:

  1. The gaze is moved in the direction of up/down and right/left, while observing the order and holding a fixed position of the eyes at each point for a couple of seconds.
  2. Eye movements in a circle.
  3. Movement along the contour of a square or rectangle.

In addition to exercise, a tincture of crushed valerian root and lavender leaves, mixed in equal quantities, will help cope with the disorder. 1 tbsp. herbs pour 200 ml. white wine and leave for 3 days in a dark place. In this case, the solution is shaken in the evening of each day to avoid the formation of sediment. You need to take the product 1 tbsp. an hour before meals.

Also beneficial effect provide decoctions of lavender, mint, blueberries and calendula.

Preventive measures

To reduce the risk of double pupils to a minimum, you should promptly contact qualified help to the doctors. It is also advisable to give up alcohol and smoking.

You need to remember about daily walks fresh air, taking vitamins and active image life.

I looked and was horrified.... We look and read

Eyes bulging

Kim Goodman is a woman who can protrude her eyes 1.2 cm. She holds the world record for protruding eye sockets.
Kim lives in Chicago, Illinois. She discovered her talent when she was hit in the head with a hockey helmet one day. Her eyes just popped out at that moment, but Kim was able to easily “put” them back into place.
Since then, she can bulge her eyes at will, even while yawning.
On November 2, 2007, her abilities were documented in Istanbul.


The eye is a smoker

This smoker from the East has mastered the art of inhaling smoke through the ears or eye sockets and exhaling through the mouth.
After “installing” a cigarette in his ear or eye, he strongly wrinkles his face while inhaling. This creates an "internal absorption" process that most ordinary people unable to produce. And that's right.
A man living in the Chinese city of Shanghai holds a cigarette with his eye and exhales smoke through his mouth in front of a surprised audience.

Hairy eyeball

Doctors Ali Mahdavi Fard and Leili Pourafkari had to operate on a patient who had an unusual clot covered in hair in his eye.
A 19-year-old boy came to the eye clinic with a strange growth growing in one of his eyes.
He said that the “growth” has been with him since birth, and over the years it only increases in size.
He did not experience any pain due to the presence of the unknown body, however, some visual defects did develop, accompanied by constant discomfort when blinking due to the presence foreign body.
Surgically doctors easily removed the unnecessary object.


Two pupils in one eye

The Pupula duplex is a medical oddity characterized by the presence of two pupils in one eyeball. This is translated from Latin as “double pupil”.
Although this condition is not described in the medical literature, there is a myth about the Chinese Minister of State Liu Chung, 995 BC, who allegedly suffered from this problem.
This image of Liu Chong was designed by Robert Ripley as part of his "Believe it or not" project, in which he recreated extraordinary events and objects. Its collection includes more than 20,000 photographs and 30,000 artifacts.
A wax representation of the unusual human condition complemented the Louis Tussauds wax museum.


Retina cancer

Retinoblastoma is rare form eye cancer, which usually develops in early childhood usually before the age of 5 years. Cancer affects the retina, which is a special light-sensitive tissue located at the back of the eye that detects light and color.


Missing eye

Billy Owen says he began to see things in a new light in February 2009. And the loss of the right eyeball is to blame.
Before the tragedy, Owen was a successful mechanic with loving wife and a six-month-old son. However, something soon happened that completely changed his life. On February 13, 2009, the doctor shocked him with the news that Billy had undifferentiated carcinoma. paranasal sinuses nose
This is a rare form of cancer that affects nasal cavity, the survival rate after this disease was 10 percent. In Billy's case, the cancer had spread so much that doctors had to remove almost half of his face, including his right eye, muscles and nerves.
Now there is a giant hole where the right eye used to be. If he extracts dental plate, then by inserting a finger into the eye hole, he can stick it out through the mouth.
So he's trying to make money from his lost eye, starring in videos as zombies or in haunted houses.

Tooth in eye

Englishman Martin Jones lost his sight and was blind for almost 10 years. However, now he has seen the light. This was made possible by introducing part of the tooth into the eyeball.
The implanted tooth is a canine, also known as a " eye tooth", and it was removed from Martin's own mouth. Doctors then placed an artificially created lens of the eye into its base and fixed the element under the eyelid, allowing the tissue to grow.
Moreover, part of his skin was also taken from his mouth and implanted onto a tooth in his eye. This was done so that the eye would subsequently have access to its own blood circulation.
After all, doctors cut a hole in the cornea, which allowed light to enter the eyes. This procedure has already given 600 people the opportunity to see.

Eye piercing

Eye piercings should not be confused with eyebrow piercings. This type of piercing is less common, costs more and requires the intervention of a surgeon, that is, without cosmetic surgery there's no way around it.
Eye piercing is wearing jewelry in your eye, installed either through the eyelid or directly through the eyeball. Of course, this is a very risky undertaking.


An eye with a tumor caused by two teeth

This Indian woman had... two teeth removed from her eye.
Doctors operating on a tumor on Nagabhushanam Siva's left eye were stunned when they discovered two fully formed teeth in the woman's eye.
Doctors public hospital in Chennai (South India), a woman was diagnosed with orbital teratoma (a rare embryonal tumor consisting of tissue growing in an attempt to form an organ).
The tumor was pushing her eye out and protruding strongly from under the skin, interfering normal functioning vision and significantly damage the optic nerve.
The growth of the tumor provoked the development of a condition in which the woman could not move her eyeball, which caused the appearance of lazy eye syndrome.
Doctors say that several times they encountered teratoma involving dental tissue embedded in the tumor, but they were extremely rarely able to find fully formed teeth.
Removing the tumor caused serious damage optic nerve a woman who, unfortunately, went blind.
The first case of this disease was recorded 149 years ago. Only 70 people worldwide have since been affected by the disease.


This topic presents the entire variety of mythical creatures present on the pages of Pliny the Elder’s book “Natural History” - the largest encyclopedic work of antiquity.

7) Isigon and Nymphodorus report that in the same Africa there are families who practice witchcraft; from their praise, meadows perish, trees dry up, babies fade away, Isigon adds that the same kind of people are among the Triballi and Illyrians (they bewitch with their gaze and kill those whom they gaze at for a long time with a predominantly hateful gaze); that the evil of their eyes is felt more by adults; and what is especially noteworthy is that they have one in each eye two pupils. Cicero, one of our authors, states that woman's eye with double pupils brings misfortune everywhere. In fact, when nature introduced into man the brutal custom of devouring the flesh of [another] person, she also took care to put poisons in the body, and in some cases also in the eyes, so that the evil would reside within the person himself.

II.17. Apollonides declares that there are women of the same kind in Scythia, they are called Bithians, and Philarchus that there is a tribe of Tibians on Pontus and many others like them, whose distinctive sign is double pupil in one eye, and the image of a horse in the other, and besides, they cannot be drowned, even burdened with clothes. Damon tells of a tribe of Pharmaci in Ethiopia, completely different from them, whose sweat, when their bodies touch, leads to putrefaction.

Vision is one of the most important ways of perceiving the world for humans. The eyes reflect any movements of the soul; they not only deliver information about the world to a person, but also tell a lot about their owner. But sometimes problems arise with this organ, and very bizarre ones.
One of these quirks of nature is double pupil, or as it is also called Pupula duplex. The name here speaks for itself - when this violation There are two pupils in one eyeball at the same time.

This disease is considered as one of the variants of coloboma (absence of part of the iris).

Depending on the time of occurrence of the anomaly, polycoria can be:

Congenital: incomplete fusion of the iris due to intrauterine exposure to damaging factors;
Acquired: a consequence of trauma and tissue necrosis or surgery to remove an iris tumor;
In both cases, the presence of a double pupil can be observed only in one eye or in both.

There is a persistent legend about Liu Ch'ung. He was the emperor of China a thousand years BC. They say that he had just such an eye problem.


Picture of this unique person was recreated by Robert Ripley, who organized an entire “improbability” project called “Believe it or not.”

Photo of double pupil:


Incredible facts

Pupula duplex is considered a rare disorder in which a person has two irises and two pupils. But, is this disorder real or just a myth?

Phrase Pupula duplex, which translates from Latin as "double pupil", was first mentioned by Ovid, as well as other ancient writers who referred to it as the "devil's eye".

The very meaning of "pupula duplex" in the literature is a matter of debate, as it could mean both medical disorder, and have a symbolic meaning.

Pupula duplex disease - double pupil (photo)

Chinese Minister of State Liu Ch'ung is considered one example of a person with double pupils. His wax figure is in the Ripley Museum in London. The statue says:

"Believe it or not! Liu Chong was born with two pupils in each eye. Despite the anomaly, he became governor of Shanxi Province in China and minister of state in 995 AD. Although Liu Chong's disorder is very rare, other cases of four-eyed people have been documented in medical science. In 1931, Robert Ripley personally met a man with double eyes, Henry Hawn, from Mills Kentucky.".

Actually there are no documented or real cases"double pupil". However, some people claim that they have this disorder and publish photos purporting to prove it.

While these photos may be shocking, they are most likely not real.

Eye defects

In fact, there is such an anomaly as " polycoria", when there are two pupils in the iris, and it looks something like this:

With this disorder, there are several holes in the iris. In true polycoria, there are many pupils, each of which has a sphincter that is capable of contracting.

In most cases it occurs pseudopolycoria, in which only one pupil is true with a working sphincter - the muscle that contracts the pupil.

There are also other vision defects that can create the illusion of multiple pupils. For example, heterochromia, in which the iris of the eyes is different.

Or, for example, coloboma– a birth defect that causes a hole in the iris. People with coloboma are also blind.

Proptosis– a condition in which the eyeball protrudes greatly.

Double pupil disease has been mentioned since the time of Chinese minister Liu Chong. It was believed that such people could easily distinguish lies from truth, so they always held leadership positions. Such “eagle” vision was considered a gift from the gods.

Description of the disease

This innate feature immediately attracted the attention of many scientists. A person has two pupils in one eyeball. One has the usual dimensions, and the second is much smaller. More often this disease occurs only in a unilateral form. It turns out that it is almost impossible to meet a person with four symmetrical pupils.

However, there were cases when the number of pupils was more than three, while their sizes did not exceed two millimeters. This pathology significantly affects the perception environment. For example, the reaction to light will not only be slow, but also insignificant.

Double pupil disease is accompanied by:

  • visual discomfort;
  • aesthetic inconsistency;
  • improved vision;
  • good focusing on objects.

Does a person with this disease see the world differently?

Each person has his own set of rods and cones, which are responsible for recreating the world around him. At the same time, everyone believes that they see the world exactly the same as others, but this is not true. All people perceive color combinations individually, so there are no people on our planet who see the same colors. The same can be said about patients with Pupula duplex. They perceive the world around us just like the rest.

But there is an opinion that with a noticeable dominance in the size of one pupil, the second is much less developed. When the large pupil is closed, the smaller one will perceive the world in a blurry form. This disease was exhibited in the Louis Tussauds wax museum. The image of Liu Chong was produced by Robert Ripley and, before being placed in the museum, complemented his collection of extraordinary events and objects.

It should be remembered that this condition has not been described by medicine, since it is extremely rare, and people with a similar disease try to avoid not only doctors, but also all the people around them.