Rare Disease Turns Man's Ocular Into 'The Eye of Sauron'

A 44-year-old man with a family history of glaucoma visited an ophthalmology clinic to reestablish care after relocating. American doctors found that the man suffered from a very rare Pigment Dispersion Syndrome (PDS) that turns a person's cornea into an incarnation of the Tolkien-created Middle Earth 'Eye of Sauron'.

According to ophthalmologists, PDS can develop when the cells that give the iris its color rub off the back of the iris. Pigment may float around to other parts of the eye and tiny bits may clog the eye's drainage angle giving rise to unwanted pressure, including glaucoma.

The unusual case was first published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The medics say that such a rare condition is more common to people that are myopic. Nearly half of those with PDS, however, can further develop elevated eye pressure and glaucoma of the pigment decreases the outflow of fluid, the doctors say.

Images in Clinical Medicine: Iris Transillumination Defects in Pigment Dispersion Syndrome https://t.co/ev6ZGGrifV pic.twitter.com/eFuIh1QCvk

— NEJM (@NEJM) November 14, 2019

A cure for the rare disease involves selective laser trabeculoplasty and the use of a prescription for pressure-lowering eye drops to control inner eye pressure.