Luekodermia is a very rare eye condition that leaves a person’s eyes very sensitive to light, making their eyes vulnerable to sunlight damage but allows them to see perfectly in the dark. This condition sounds like it’s straight out of the sci-fi movies Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, but a young Chinese boy has been found to be in possession of this rare condition.
Nong Youhui, from the Guanxi province in China was born with eyes that resemble a cat’s and the unique ability to see in the dark. His special condition was first heard about when doctors examined him in 2009. An optical specialist recently made a trip to the Nong’s home village to examine him. The first thing he noticed was that Nong had light blue eyes, similar to Westerners eyes. He also noted that his eyes reflected a blue-green light when he shone a flashlight on his them, just like a cat’s eyes.
Two months after Nong was born, his father noticed there was something strange with his eyes and took him to a hospital, but the doctor told them not to worry and his eyes would be normal as he grew up. His eyes didn’t change but this didn’t bother anyone as his family had grown accustomed to Nong’s eye condition. He lived his life like a normal child in the village, till his teacher noticed that he needed to squint in bright light. When asked about it, he complained he had blurry vision.
The teacher was interested in Nong’s eyes and asked him if he could see in the dark, to which the boy said yes. To test this, the teacher brought him to catch crickets at night, and Nong claimed he didn’t need a flashlight to see the insects. Rumors quickly spread about the boy’s unique talent which flocked reporters to his village to test if this was real. These included having him answering questions on a piece of paper, identifying playing cards, all in complete darkness. He passed all of these with ease and has since earned him a reputation with nicknames like the “cat-boy”, “starchild” and “real- life mutant”.
You can check out the video below to see Nong’s special talent in action!
Undergraduate student at Simon Fraser University from Hong Kong, joined AX3 in August 2011. Writes about movies, music, current events and oddities. Likes spicy food, anime, guitar and piano. Only weakness: peanuts.
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