The white showing beneath the iris, when you look straight ahead. Apparently, it is a sign of moral turpitude/illness.
The Japanese is 三白眼。Has this idea filtered into Taiwanese culture, or do any other cultures in Asia have beliefs about this? I think I heard that it’s also important indicator in Chinese medicine.
(I am an utter freak as I am senpaku in one eye, apparently. No protestations that I tend to oen my right eye slightly wider because I’m right handed and therefore the muscles on the right side of my body are slightly more developed would sway this person’s views. Symmetry being one of the marks of beauty, my face is completely asymmetrical and one of my eyes is noticably bigger than the other. )
A quick google informs me that Obama bin Laden has 'em.
Given Japan’s culture of bowing, one shouldn’t be surprised that some people display this. Try bowing your head forward while looking at your own eyes in a mirror. What’s unusual is seeing it while your head is upright, though (IANAD) I doubt it reveals any medical condition except maybe Graves’ Disease.
Yes, I’m still awake at 6:30. I’ve been watching the World Baseball Classic. (Netherlands 3-2 Dominican Republic! Horray! US 6-5 Canada! Rats!)
You should be careful buttercup. Some hero might mistake life for a cowboy movie and shoot you. I always carry a Bible in my chest pocket for precisely that reason.
[i]TOO MUCH WHITE
Sanpaku, meaning ‘three whites’, is a term from the ancient Japanese system of medical diagnoses called Bo-Shin, closely linked to the philosophy of ‘yin and yang’, on which the macrobiotic diet is founded. If a person has Sanpaku eyes, it means that the iris is turned upwards so the white is clearly visible on three sides.
The condition has been recognised for centuries in Oriental countries where it was thought to signify poor physical and mental health - caused primarily by an unwholesome diet too high in red meat and acidic foods.
A person’s psychological state can also cause the eyes to become Sanpaku because stress affects the optic nerves. This pulls the muscles up, moving the iris with them towards the eye socket, so white space is revealed underneath.
Many high-profile people have been affected, including Julius Caesar, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Adolf Hitler and Princess Diana.
Artist David Hockney also recently noted that Cherie Blair has Sanpaku eyes. Some therapists believe that a macrobiotic diet can get rid of the effect, but only over a matter of years.[/i]
Surely most of the time it’s just from the way people hold their head? Look at Princess Diana’s photos - she was always coyly looking up with her face held a bit down. She probably thought it made her look cute. Osama bin Laden as well - he holds his head a bit down and then looks up, so naturally you can see the whites under his irises. I don’t suppose he’s trying to look cute, though.
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