Video shows woman with rare condition that links her eyelid to her JAW

A California woman is one of 300 people suffering from a rare condition that joins the eyelid to the jaw, causing her eye to droop when she eats.

Mandy Bardisbanian, 33, suffers from the Marcus Gunn phenomenon, a genetic disorder that causes the nerves and muscles of the jaw to be linked to her left eyelid.

She said the condition has affected her self-esteem, caused her self-harm and also made her a target for bullies, but the connections she formed with other victims on Facebook and TikTok helped her feel more comfortable sharing her problem.

There are only 300 documented cases of the phenomenon in the world, according to a report by the National Organization for Rare Disorders.

Ms Bardisbanian, from Long Beach, California, believes the disease is more common than the literature suggests, with around 24,000 cases.

Experts have not yet determined what exactly causes the problem. It is characterized by a person’s upper eyelid moving upwards when the jaw is moved.

It got its name in the late 19th century, when a UK doctor, Marcus Gunn, examined a 15-year-old boy in England and discovered the rare condition.

Ms. Bardisbanian used to feel very insecure about her condition, but now she is completely accepting of it.

She has suffered from the condition all her life and was bullied for it as a child and now she wants to create a community with others like her.

Ms Bardisbanian, who works as a vice president at a merchandise licensing company, explained: “I think I turned emo just so I could cover my eye with my hair.”

“I was a very bullied kid, whatever you think of when you picture the shortest, dumbest kid, that was me.”

“It was incredibly difficult for me because the kids were mean. I self-harmed as a child, it was incredibly difficult growing up with something like that.

“Even though it’s not the worst thing you can have, it sucks, it’s okay that it sucks.”

She took to social media to raise awareness about her condition after seeing a video falsely claiming her condition was caused by syphilis.

He posted a video berating him and it went viral, garnering 172,000 views.

Mandy said: ‘I wasn’t going to sit there and put up with people posting misinformation.

“To the detriment of my mental health, it went viral.”

Now she has embarked on a campaign to find other people suffering from the condition, to raise awareness and regain her self-confidence.

While it initially caused her self-esteem issues, Ms Bardisbanian now runs a Facebook support group of over 2,000 members for her condition.

He shares videos related to his condition and has started a Facebook group for people suffering from the Marcus Gunn phenomenon.

The group now has more than 2,000 members.

“From there, I decided that I was going to find more people with Marcus Gunn, I created a Facebook group to find other people like me,” he said of the group.

“It’s also a way to get my power back, now I want to start an anti-bullying charity.”

She continued: ‘There have been people who have come up to me and said they have this and they hate it, but my videos give them hope.

“There was even a girl from my high school who came up to me and apologized for how mean she was to me in school.

“The hardest part is always posting, because I’m exposing something about myself that I’ve tried to hide my whole life.”