What Are BPD Eyes? What The Term Means & If It’s Real

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A deep dive into the BPD stare + why the eyes look black or empty

Co-authored by Kathryn Garland, LCSW-S and Marcus Pruitt, BS

Last Updated: June 17, 2026 Fact Checked

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What are BPD eyes?

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Are BPD eyes real?

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What makes BPD eyes different?

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BPD Symptoms

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Having Empathy Toward People with BPD

When it comes to borderline personality disorder (BPD), many symptoms are misunderstood or unknown. BPD eyes are among the debated symptoms. Although they aren’t officially recognized by the medical community, many people with BPD recognize BPD eyes as something they’ve been dealing with their entire lives. So many, in fact, that the term’s gone viral on platforms like TikTok and Facebook. If you’ve seen the trend and are confused, read on, as we explain what BPD Eyes are, whether or not they’re real, what makes them look different, and more!

BPD Eyes Explained

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An illustration of someone with BPD eyes with a text description.

“BPD eyes” are black, dilated eyes with a hyper-focused stare. They typically appear when a person with borderline personality disorder experiences intense stress, trauma, or has difficulty regulating their emotions. The medical community does not officially recognize BPD eyes, but it's a popular social media term.

Section 1 of 5:

What are BPD eyes?

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BPD eyes refer to dark, dilated eyes with a deep, focused stare. BPD eyes are dark and dilated, with a deep, focused stare. BPD eyes are often called “shark eyes,” due to their intense, hyper-focused gaze and wide, black-looking pupils. It’s a term that refers to the eyes of someone with borderline personality disorder, especially when they’re dealing with stress, trauma, self-doubt, paranoia, or feelings of abandonment. It’s believed that people with BPD have “empty” looking eyes because they’re dissociating, having trouble regulating or processing their emotions, or trying to read other people.^{[1]
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- What do BPD eyes say about someone’s emotional state? BPD eyes can be a signal that a person is experiencing an episode of emotional dysregulation, dissociation, and/or high stress.
- BPD eyes are also known as a “unicorn gaze” or “borderline gaze.”

Section 2 of 5:

Are BPD eyes real?

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BPD eyes aren’t scientifically recognized. However, some people believe they’re a real phenomenon. On social media, some people with bipolar personality disorder have talked about their experiences getting comments about how their eyes get vacant and stare off into nothing when dealing with intense thoughts and emotions. Many resonate with these comments, but the medical community doesn’t officially recognize BPD eyes as a symptom of borderline personality disorder.
- Reddit Example: In a Reddit thread in r/BorderlinePDisorder, one Reddit user talked about their experience with BPD eyes, saying, “I was always told I had angry eyes, either that or cold and dark, maybe there is something to it.”
- Reddit Example: In the same thread, another user said, “i was told i had dark eyes, glazed over. when im in a baddd episode, i was told i look paralyzed with fear.”

Section 3 of 5:

What makes BPD eyes different?

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BPD eyes don't have much expression. BPD eyes have been described as empty, with vacant expressions that are accompanied by intense gazes. “Normal” eyes, on the other hand, are described as openly expressive, displaying emotions such as sadness, happiness, and fear through widened pupils, furrowed brows, and/or larger pupils.^{[2]
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- At the end of the day, there are no “abnormal eyes,” and the comparison between BPD eyes and “normal eyes” isn’t rooted in science. People experiencing emotional pain are people first, not visual categories or online trends!

Section 4 of 5:

Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder

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Dissociation Dissociation might cause someone to have what's described as “BPD eyes.” It’s a mental process where a person disconnects from their thoughts, memories, and surroundings, usually in response to intense stress, trauma, or conflict. Oftentimes, this dissociation can go into overdrive, resulting in symptoms like:^{[3]
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Mayo Clinic
Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals

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- Shifting self-image: Quick changes in the way you see yourself, your goals, and your values. You may also perceive yourself as bad or feel like you don’t exist.
- Stress-related paranoia: A paranoid, stressful feeling often accompanied by a loss of contact with reality.
- Depersonalization: A loss of connection and attachment to your body and thoughts.
- Poor memory: Blackouts, gaps in memory, or misremembering various situations during stressful events.
- Derealization: Seeing the world as foggy, unreal, or dream-like.
- Self-harm: Engaging in self-injury in order to shake a feeling of emotional numbness or depression, often with little recollection of the act.
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Emotional dysregulation When someone has “BPD eyes,” it can mean they have trouble regulating their emotions. People with borderline personality disorder tend to feel things deeply, which may lead to outbursts, intense fears, and other emotional manifestations, such as:^{[4]
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Mayo Clinic
Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals

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- Fear of abandonment: A strong sense that others will abandon you at a moment’s notice. You may go to extreme measures to ensure you don’t feel rejected or separated, even if the fears aren’t valid.
- Unstable, intense relationships: Shifting views on your relationships, like believing a person is perfect one moment, then quickly shifting to the idea that they’re cruel and don’t care enough about you.
- Rapid mood swings: Wide mood swings that go from very happy to very irritable, angry, anxious, or ashamed over the course of hours or days.
- Disproportional anger: Strong, inappropriate anger that can involve losing your temper often, feelings of sarcasm and bitterness, and physically fighting.
- Impulsive, risky behavior: Risky behaviors such as gambling, dangerous driving, unsafe sex, drug use, binge eating, spending sprees, or suddenly cutting off good opportunities in your life.
- Feelings of emptiness: A constant feeling of emptiness or loss.

Section 5 of 5:

The Importance of Empathy Towards People with Borderline Personality Disorder

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It’s important not to stigmatize people with BPD because of their strong emotions. Licensed Clinical Social Worker Kathryn Garland, LCSW-S says that BPD has always been stigmatized, and it can be hard for people who receive that diagnosis not to internalize it in a negative way.^{[5]
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Expert Source

Kathryn Garland, LCSW-S
Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Expert Interview} When you place people in a box based on their mental disorder, it can make them feel misunderstood, chastised, or dismissed. People who have borderline personality disorder deal with a wide range of intense emotions, so rather than singling them out and pushing their buttons, it’s best to treat them with empathy and understanding. The conversation around borderline personality disorder should center around compassion!
- What does stigmatizing people with BPD look like? Treating their emotions as attention-seeking rather than taking them seriously; treating them as manipulative rather than trying to understand them.^{[6]
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