The woman who aged from 23 to 73 in `a few days`
Baku, October 15 (AZERTAC). The young Vietnamese woman at the centre of the improbable medical case, Nguyen Thi Phuong, claims the transformation may have come about because of an extreme allergy to seafood. Nguyen, 26, says she developed this puffy face and sagging skin in 2008 but was too poor to seek treatment. Earlier this month, doctors said they would examine her free of charge. Nguyen`s husband, carpenter Thanh Tuyen, insists the story is true and his love has not faded for his once-beautiful wife. She has always worn wear a mask in public to hide her appearance from prying eyes, but she has now sought help from doctors to see if they can reverse the `ageing` effect. Displaying photos of a beautiful 21-year-old woman on her wedding day in 2006, Mrs Nguyen said: `Five years ago, I was rather pretty and not so ugly like this, right?` Mrs Nguyen believes her condition was caused by a life-long allergy to seafood. She said she had suffered a particularly bad reaction in 2008. `I was really itchy all over my body. I had to scratch even while sleeping.` Phuong said she took some medicine bought at a local pharmacy instead of going to the hospital because her and her husband Tuyen, now 33, were too poor to afford it. She said: `After one month of taking the drugs, I became less itchy but hives remained on my skin. Then I switched to traditional medicine and all the hives disappeared, together with my itching. However, my skin began to sag and fold.` Mrs Nguyen then took another kind of traditional medicine to treat her rapid-aging skin problem - but to no avail. Doctors say it may have been the long-term use of traditional medicines that caused the condition as they are often spiked with corticoids. These steroids speed up the effects of the unregulated remedies but could also have triggered the rare skin disease mastocytosis, where the body produces too many mast cells. The couple do not remember what the medicine was or which pharmacy they got it from. Mrs Nguyen said: `We considered that it was our destiny and I quit treatment in 2009. Now I always wear a face mask whenever I go out. `The skin on my face, chest and belly have folds like an old woman who has given birth several times although I have never had a child. `But the rapid-aging syndrome hasn`t affected my menstrual cycle, hair, teeth, eyes and mind.` In 2010, the couple migrated to the southern province. Mr Nguyen continued to work as a carpenter while Phuong got a job at a cashew-nut processing factory. Both earn a total of less than £92 a month - which means they cannot afford an examination at a major hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Tuyen said his wife`s disease has not affected his love for her or their relationship. He said: `I married Phuong when she was a beautiful woman. I have followed her through her disease and have never been shocked at all.
It`s not easy to talk about one`s own marital affairs. Just simply understand that I still love her very much.` Mrs Nguyen said her husband`s love is the reason she is able to persevere in the face of adversity. She said: `He still loves me like before despite the fact that I look old and ugly. With him, I feel more confident to live and work.` On October 2, doctors from Nguyen Dinh Chieu Hospital in Ben Tre Province said they would examine Phuong for free and send her to the HCMC Dermatology Hospital if they failed to diagnose her condition. There is already some disagreement among doctors over the cause of the rare condition. Doctor Vo Thi Bach Suong of the HCMC University of Medicine and Pharmacy, said: `She might have taken corticoid for a long time. Many traditional pharmacists use corticoid in their medicine, leading to side effects like swelled face and abnormally-growing skin sections.` Nguyen Hoai Nam, another lecturer at the university, agreed that Phuong may suffer from the wrongful use of corticoid.He said: `A sudden stop in using corticoid could easily lead to Cushing`s Syndrome, which is clearly seen through affected skin.` However, doctor Huynh Huy Hoang of the HCMC Dermatology Hospital has doubts over this diagnosis. He said: `It`s really strange. This is the first time I`ve heard of such a case of rapid-aging process on an adult. It`s not lipodystropy syndrome.
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