A Dutch woman perceived human faces as dragon-like for 40 years.
The 52-year-old, no matter where she was, saw terrifying reptilian features instead of ordinary faces. Human features would suddenly transform before her eyes — growing snouts, pointed ears, and glowing yellow, green, or red eyes.
Even in empty rooms, dragon-like faces appeared, and this wasn’t a temporary phenomenon — it had been part of her reality since childhood.
It was later discovered that she suffered from a rare condition called prosopometamorphopsia (PMO), a disorder that distorts how the brain perceives faces.
An MRI scan of her brain revealed lesions in the white matter. These lesions most likely disrupted the brain regions responsible for recognizing objects and faces.
PMO is extremely rare — only 81 cases have been recorded in the past 100 years.
After three years of medical treatment, her condition became manageable, and for the first time in decades, the world began to appear normal to her again
