Cyclopia is a rare birth defect characterized by one eye on the forehead of the baby.  This happen when the embryonic forebrain failed to divide into two orbital cavities for the eyeballs. The failure creates a one-eyed baby. 

The condition occurs four times in a thousand birth in humans. In most cases in human, the pregnancy does not go full term.

According to doctors, high amount of toxins, alcoholism and diabetes are among the culprit of this birth defect. Mothers who suffer from alcoholism or diabetes have a chance of developing a fetus with Cyclopia 200 times greater than mothers who do not suffer such illness.

In August 2006, a 37-year old mother delivered a female infant by cesarean operation at University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria. The Baby shocked the doctors not just for her multiple congenital abnormalities but also for a single centrally located eye. The doctors pronounced the baby dead after 10 minutes following delivery.

Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children in Chennai, India reported another case of cyclopia. Doctors delivered the infant by cesarean section from Veena Chavan in 2011. Veena, 34, gave birth to the baby with one eye in the center of his forehead. The infant had no nose. He lived for 24 hours.

In 2015, a baby boy with the same defect was delivered through cesarean section in El Senbellawein, Egypt. The supervising doctor expected the boy to live for few days due to his other deformities on his body.

Cyclopia originated from the mythical race of lawless giants, Cyclops, in Greek and Roman mythology. Cyclops have a single eye in the center of their foreheads.  Popular culture also adopted the character for Marvel Comics.

Source: Daily Mail   ISPub  Huffington Post

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