Boy suffers from rare ‘werewolf syndrome’, has long facial hair in central India
by Komal KashyapA 17-year-old boy suffers from a rare ‘werewolf syndrome’ which results in him having long hair all over his face since childhood in central India’s Madhya Pradesh.
The boy is named Lalit Patidar and lives in Nandleta village in Ratlam district.
Visuals that were shot on November 23 showed the boy’s face covered with long golden brown hair. His chest was also covered with long hair.
Lalit was diagnosed with hypertrichosis at the age of six. It is characterized by an abnormal amount of hair growth all over the body. In childhood, the villagers used to worship him, considering him Bal Hanuman (Hindu god). The relatives showed him to many doctors, but Lalit could not be treated. Doctors called it a rare and incurable disease.
Lalit’s father Baktlal Patidar, is a farmer. He is the only brother of four sisters. A Class 12 student, he studies in the government school in the village.
Because of the hair on his face, he has a lot of difficulties eating food. There is currently no cure for his disease by the doctors. A doctor in Baroda has told him to do plastic surgery after he turns 21.
“I have had this hair my whole life, my parents say the doctor shaved me at birth but I didn’t really notice anything was different about me until I was around six or seven years old. That’s when I first took notice that the hair was growing all over my body like no one else I knew,” Lalit said.
He continued, “Since then I have found out it is because I have a condition called hypertrichosis. It is rare and as far as I know, only 50 people in the world have been affected by this. There is no history of hair growth conditions in my family, I am the only one who has this disease.”
“I do trim it if I feel it is getting too long. It is like head hair, it will continue to grow, I have no other way to manage it,” the teen added.
Lalit is not upset with his condition, however, his parents worry a lot about him.