Imagine if every time you looked at the faces of the people you love, you saw their eyes popping out like something from a horror film and their features melting – that is the scary reality for sufferers of prosopometamorphosia.
Neurology consultants at Abu Dhabi's Burjeel Hospital have seen what they claim is only the thirteenth reported case worldwide of the disease, with 54-year-old Beverly Singh (name changed to protect patient confidentiality) complaining of seeing the people around her with elongated, protruding eyes and half of their faces distorted.
Prosopometamorphosia is a rare visual perception disorder causing those afflicted to see distorted images of other people's faces. Many have described the faces of regular people and even loved ones as looking grotesque, with prominent teeth and scary eyes, while others have described faces as having a cartoon-like quality.
Some compare the faces seen to paintings by Picasso or something from the imaginings of surrealist Salvador Dali.
The condition is rare. In one of the few other cases to have been reported, a 52-year-old woman presented in 2011 to a psychiatric clinic in the Netherlands, said that, for her entire life, she had seen human faces metamorphose into the faces of dragons.
"She could perceive and recognise actual faces, but after several minutes they turned black, grew long, pointy ears and a protruding snout, and displayed a reptiloid skin and huge eyes in bright yellow, green, blue, or red," it was reported in The Lancet.
She also saw similar dragon-like faces drifting towards her many times a day from the walls, electrical sockets or her computer screen.
Exactly what causes the condition remains unknown. First described in 1947, it is usually transient and is attributed to structural brain changes or functional disorders such as epilepsy, migraine or eye disease.
Doctors speculate that it may involve abnormal activity in the areas of the brain that processes faces or an impairment in the transfer of visual information and memory function between the two hemispheres of the brain.
Dr Halprashanth DS, consultant neurologist at Burjeel Hospital, said: “Prosopometamorphosia is one of the world’s rarest neurological conditions. Unsurprisingly, the disorder can be quite distressing for those affected and impacts their quality of life."
The distorted images seen depend on which part of the brain is affected. Ms Singh also sees flashes of bright lights that contained images, such as cars, which now prevent her from driving.
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For her, it all started one day when she had taken her granddaughter to the pool.
“I suddenly didn’t feel right and asked to go home,” she said.
She fell asleep when she got there and, later in the evening, when she went out with her husband she suddenly started seeing images of cars in front of her and got an intense headache.
Six months later, it started again but this time the headaches were stronger so she went to see the doctor.
“When I looked at the doctor, it looked like his eyes were popping out,” she said.
An initial examination by the neurological team returned normal results, but a subsequent MRI scan of her brain revealed that she had suffered a stroke.
Luckily, the doctor had seen a case of this unusual condition before and Ms Singh then tested positive for Prosopometamorphosia.
“It was a scary experience but now I'm aware of it,” she said. And luckily for Ms Singh, she was prescribed medication and strict blood pressure control and now her facial vision has returned back to normal.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Where to Find Me by Alba Arikha
Alma Books
The Bio
Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village
What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft
Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans
Best time to swim in the sea: When there is enough light to see beneath the surface
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
