Mar 14, 2021 09:00:00

Deer found with thick hair growing on its eyeballs

A white-tailed

deer with hair growing on the iris of its eyeball was found in Tennessee, USA. The National Deer Association, which specializes in wild deer conservation, calls it ``one of the strangest diseases in history.''

Freak Buck Had Corneal Dermoids. Yes, Hairy Eyeballs. | NDA
https://www.deerassociation.com/freak-buck-had-corneal-dermoids-yes-hairy-eyeballs/

Why a dazed deer in Tennessee had hair growing from its eyeballs | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/deer-hairy-eyeballs.html

The white-tailed deer in question is below. Because the image is somewhat grotesque, only the thumbnail is mosaiced, and you can see the image without the mosaic by clicking on the image. If you look at the image, you can see that hair grows in part of the iris of the eye, also known as the iris.

This white-tailed deer was destroyed near Farragut, a suburb of Knoxville in eastern Tennessee, because it was causing a traffic hazard. The white-tailed deer carcass was sent to the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine by Sterling Daniels, a biologist with the state Department of Wildlife Resources, for testing for

chronic wasting disease, a prion disease in deer. That's when Mr. Daniels noticed hair growing on his eyeballs.

The phenomenon of hair growth on the eyeballs confirmed this time has been diagnosed as a congenital disease called `` keratodermoidoma, '' in which skin tissue such as hair roots is generated on the eyeballs. Dr. Nicole Nemeth and Michelle Willis of the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, who were in charge of examining the newly discovered specimen, said, ``Dermoid is a condition in which skin forms in areas other than the skin, and as in this case, the cornea. 'In the case of dermoid tumors, elements found in normal skin cells, such as hair follicles, sweat glands, collagen fibers, and fat, often form.'

The individual in question is believed to have died at the age of one and a half years old, and Dr. Nemeth said, ``Since corneal dermoid is a congenital disease, it is thought that the condition gradually progressed from the time of birth.Progression of the condition. We don't know about the speed, but it is thought that the individual in question had hair growing in his eyeballs for a fairly long period of time.'

According to the American Deer Association, this is the second case of corneal dermoid deer confirmed in the country. The first case was a white-tailed deer in Louisiana that was shot and killed by hunting in 2007, and only the left eye was affected by corneal dermoid, and there were three tumors covered in hair on the cornea. When the tumor was dissected, bone and cartilage were found to have come out of the connective tissue that supports the hair.