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Fact check: Image of eye with 2 pupils, irises is altered

Ella Lee   | Paste BN
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The claim: An image shows a rare eye condition called 'pupula duplex'

A striking image online is catching the eyes of social media users.

"The Pupula duplex is a medical oddity that is characterized by having two pupils in each eyeball," reads the text of a Feb. 15 Facebook post, superimposed on an image of an eye that has two irises and pupils.

The post amassed more than 400 likes and 50 shares in four days, and posts with the term "pupula duplex" have received more than 31,000 interactions on Facebook and almost 200,000 interactions on Instagram in the last year.

But "pupula duplex" isn't real. While a similar condition does exist, it's called "polycoria" and doesn't look like the picture in the Facebook post, experts say. The image shared to Facebook is altered.

In response to Paste BN's request for comment, the person who shared the post said the picture is photoshopped and that they were not the original poster.

"Nothing is true everything is permitted," they said over Facebook Messenger. "I believe the condition is actually called polycoria?"

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Real condition called 'polycoria,' experts say

Susanne Medeiros, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, told Paste BN that the image seems to be altered.

"This appears photoshopped," Medeiros said. "While there is a condition called polycoria that gives the appearance of two pupils in one eye, it does not look like that Facebook image."

Polycoria is a condition where an eye has – or appears to have – two or more pupils, according to Healthline. With "true" polycoria, each pupil functions independently, constricting or dilating on its own when reacting to light. "False" polycoria, or pseudopolycoria, occurs when there are holes in the iris that look like pupils but they don't function as such. 

Here are a few examples of what polycoria actually looks like. 

The fake disorder "pupula duplex" is based on a myth about Liu Ch’ung, the Chinese minister of state in A.D. 995, who allegedly had two pupils and two irises, according to the Arizona Retina Project at the University of Arizona. The minister and his reportedly unique eyes are immortalized in wax by Ripley's Believe It or Not.

The American Optometric Association told Lead Stories that "pupula duplex" is "not a medical term that we are aware of." Paste BN reached out to the association for comment. 

Image is altered

The striking two-pupil eye in the Facebook post was first published online to Flickr in 2006, where two versions of the image were shared by the same creator.

The first version, posted June 28, 2006, is a less edited version of the eye, which shows harsher lines around the second iris and pupil – consistent with a digitally manipulated image. The image is also tagged "manipulation" and "tool" on Flickr by the creator.

The second version, shared a few days later on July 3, 2006, is the version in the Facebook post. The lines around the second iris and pupil in that version are blurred and a reflection is added onto both iris' to appear more real.

On that post, the creator's caption reads "je l'ai refait. en espèrant que c'est mieux bidouillé," which translates in English to "I did it again. hoping it’s better tweaked," according to the translation website Reverso.

PolitiFact and Lead Stories also reported the image and condition are fake. 

Our rating: Altered

Based on our research, we rate ALTERED the claim that an image shows a rare eye condition called "pupula duplex." While a similar condition does exist, it's called "polycoria" and it doesn't look like the picture in the Facebook post, experts say.

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