21 Fascinating "Medical Mysteries" That Genuinely Blew My Mind – Like, I Can't Believe These Are Real
A while back, Redditor u/Legendary888 asked the internet: "What's something medically cool/unique about your body?" People shared the wildest and most rare facts about their body, and it's wild. Here are some of the most shocking responses:
1."I had six wisdom teeth. I joked to my dentist about how wise I must be, and he said, 'You're just really unevolved.'"
2."I have beaded hair. Everyone's hair is coated in a layer of protein, but in my hair, that protein is constricted in certain places, making each stand look covered in little beads. You don't notice it when you look at me, but if you're really examining my hair closely, you will."
"Hairdressers often comment on it and will call other hairdressers over to look at it because it's rare."
3."I have a bifid uvula, which means my uvula, the hangy thing at the back of your throat, isn't completely formed and is split in two ends instead of one. Basically, it looks like I have throat balls."
4."I had several organ transplants, so none of my organs are in the correct spot. I also don't have a gallbladder because they just didn't put it back while operating near it."
5."I'm currently on my third set of wisdom teeth. I've had the surgery to remove them twice, but they keep growing back."
6."Not to brag, but I have an undescended testicle, which resulted in me getting a prosthetic ball when I was 16. It's rock solid and does not look/feel like a normal testicle, as the doctors told me it would. In fact, 10+ years later, it's always uncomfortable, and I wildly regret it."
"All it did was make women ask what was wrong with me — the complete adverse impact of what I was looking for. Thanks, doctors!"
7."I have nocturnal epilepsy. I will be on the onset of sleep when my brain decides to go all out and convulse."
8."I'm 31 and on my third pacemaker. The first one was placed in 2003 when I was 18. I've got a cool scar, and you can feel the battery under my skin. Also, I travel a lot, so I have to carry this handy card with me so the TSA/foreign equivalent won't make me go through the metal detectors."
9."I have nocturnal lagophthalmos. Basically, I sleep with my eyes open. People who have seen me sleep have been creeped out and said I look like something from a horror movie."
10."My sweat is corrosive. I can rot the back of a cheap watch in four months. My watch and jewelry are titanium. Two of my three children are likewise afflited, but not as bad as me."
11."I once managed to break my jaw in such a unique way that I became a case study at the local medical university. I fell off my bike and landed square on my chin. Instead of breaking somewhere in the middle, my jaw broke at the hinges. As a kid, it was awesome, though. Lots of ice cream and pudding for a month or so. Even though I was wearing a helmet, I almost died."
12."I was born with six fingers on each hand. The doctor/nurse snipped 'em off, but stubs remain."
13."I have Ehlers-Danlos, which makes me very flexible. I did the school talent show in middle school as 'The Human Pretzel.' I can put my legs behind my head or cross my legs and get up and walk on my knees."
"Unfortunately, I didn't realize that stretching my body this way was doing damage to veins in my neck, and I ended up having a stroke at 27."
14."I have a twin sister, and we are mirror twins (I'm right-handed, she's left-handed, etc). We both have scoliosis; her curves are to the left while mine are to the right."
—Anonymous
15."I had three sets of front teeth."
16."I've had different-sized pupils since birth. Not a symptom of anything as some might think, just an unusual feature."
17."A small sliver of my iris runs across my pupil! My doctor said it was the only time he had seen it and that it's so smalll that it doesn't affect my vision."
u/rushadee / Via imgur.com, u/rushadee / Via imgur.com
"Me too! I posted some pics on a comment here. This is mine."
18."I can dislocate my left shoulder at will. I don't, though, because when I was a child, the orthopedic consultant said that it was bad for the joint and I shouldn't do it [no matter what]."
19."I have little calcified spots all over the inside of my lungs from when I had chicken pox as a kid. They're harmless, but they show up on X-rays, and most doctors don't have a clue what they are. The pulmonary specialist that diagnosed them asked if she could keep the X-ray films to show med students because it was so rare."
20."I have leaky blood vessels in my legs. The tiny drops of blood that leak out make it look like I have a mild sunburn on my legs. It's called Schamberg's disease. Sometimes, I like to tell people that I have a 'rare, incurable disease.' They automatically think it's something tragic, but nope! It's just leaky blood vessels!"
And finally...
21."I can breathe out of my ear. I tried this by putting my entire head underwater other than the ear, while it's not a lot of oxygen, it's enough to make me live, I guess. I had holes in them as a baby and had tubes put in there, which didn't work, apparently. It's not really an issue, so eh, just a mutant power."
WOW. Do you have something unique or fascinating about your body that most people don't have? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
