A woman chatted up a man at the bar, and the pair hit it off. Then she made eye contact and “freaked out” after noticing his rare condition.
In a video with over 5.4 million views, TikToker Petrine Asana (@petrinejensen) sits across from the man. She zooms into his face and tells him she “has to show” viewers his unique trait. He blinks and looks towards the camera.
The man’s eyes are a medium green-blue color and lack the dark, round pupil in the center.
On-screen text reads, “One time I talked to a guy and then realized he literally had no pupils and I freaked out.” The caption continues, “He later became my friend, which was honestly so nice. We got along really well from the start, but I didn’t realize at first that he had this condition. So Unique!”
How Did Viewers React To The Man’s Unique Eyes?
Eye experts in the comments say they’ve never seen someone without pupils before, emphasizing how rare the condition is.
“I’ve worked in optometry and ophthalmology for the majority of my adult life and I’ve never seen this. This is actually pretty cool,” one wrote.
Another said, “Girl I’ve worked in optometry and ophthalmology for nearly 10 years as an assistant and never knew about this until now. One thing I love about the field, you never stop learning.”
“I have so many questions medically speaking because the pupil is an opening in the iris to let light hit the retina so like ??? very intrigued,” a third commented.
Others question whether the man can see without his pupils.
“I have so many questions medically speaking because the pupil is an opening in the iris to let light hit the retina so like ??? very intrigued,” a commenter said.
“How does this affect vision tho? Like don’t we need pupils to see?????” a second questioned.
Asana previously posted the same clip in a now-deleted video, which garnered criticism from disability activists who accused her of reacting inappropriately to the man’s condition.
Can You See With No Pupils?
While you might think that a lack of pupils would cause complete blindness, others with the man’s condition, acorea, can see in certain conditions. Acorea is caused by a rare genetic mutation that leads to partial or full absence of the pupil.
The pupil controls how much light passes into the eye, which helps the eye make out objects in bright and low light. People with acorea may experience severe vision impairment and only be able to detect the outline of objects, according to case studies. However, the level of vision impairment is different for each person with the rare condition.
Other conditions, like a corneal scar and aniridia, can also make it look like someone is missing their pupils.
@petrinejensen He later became my friend, which was honestly so nice 🤭 We got along really well from the start, but I didn’t realize at first that he had this condition. So Unique!
BroBible reached out to Asana via TikTok direct message and comment. We will update the story when she replies.