Self-enucleation


Self-enucleation also known as autoenucleation or oedipism is the self-inflicted enucleation of the eye. It is considered a form of self-mutilation and is normally caused by psychosis, paranoid delusions or drugs. Between 1968 and 2018 there were more than 50 documented cases of "complete or partial self-enucleation in English medical journals". 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". A particularly extreme form of self-mutilation, self-enucleations are rarely reported.

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 save the world". Muthart is now permanently blind, though she said "I'm happier now than I was before all this happened".