Mar 14, 2021 09:00:00

A deer with a lot of 'hair' can be found in the eyeball

A white-tailed deer with hair on the iris of the eyeball was found in Tennessee, USA. The National Deer Association, which specializes in the protection of wild deer, positions it as '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. Since it is a slightly grotesque image, only the thumbnails are mosaicked, and you can check the image without mosaic by clicking the image. If you look at the image, you can see that hair grows on a part of the iris part of the eyeball, which is also called the black eye.

This white-tailed deer is an individual that was punished for damaging traffic near Farragut, a suburb of Knoxville, eastern Tennessee. The white-tailed deer carcass was sent by biologist Sterling Daniels of the State Department of Wildlife Resources to the University of Georgia Veterinary School for testing for

chronic wasting disease , a type of deer prion disease. At that time, Daniels noticed that his eyes had hair.

The phenomenon of hair growth on the eyeball confirmed this time is diagnosed as a congenital disease called 'corneal dermoid ' in which skin tissue such as hair roots is formed on the eyeball. Dr. Nicole Nemes and Michelle Willis of the Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, who were in charge of examining the individuals discovered this time, said, 'Dermoid cyst is a symptom of skin formation in places other than the skin. Dermoid cysts often form elements found in normal skin cells, such as hair follicles, sweat glands, collagen fibers, and fat. '

The individual in question is believed to have died at the age of one and a half, and Dr. Nemes said, 'Because corneal dermoid cyst is a congenital disease, it is thought that the condition gradually progressed from the time of birth. I don't know about the speed, but it is probable that the individual in question had hair on his eyes for quite some time. '

According to the American Deer Association, this is the second deer with corneal dermoid cyst confirmed in Japan. The first case was a white-tailed deer in Louisiana, which was shot dead by hunting in 2007. Only the left eye was affected by dermoid cyst, and there were three hair-covered tumors on the cornea. When this tumor was dissected, it seems that even bones and cartilage came out from the connective tissue that supports the hair.