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These pictures may look like an attractive woman in
her 20s and her grandmother.
But they are said to be the same person – apparently taken just days
apart.
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.
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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.'
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In 2010, the couple migrated to the southern province of Binh Phuoc's Bu
Dop District where they rent a small wooden house.
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.
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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.
'However, aging is not a common sign of Cushing's Syndrome either.'
Doctor Yen Lam Phuc of the Vietnam Military Medical Academy agreed with
Hoang, saying the rapid aging could not be a side effect of a medical
substance. He said: 'It could be a totally new syndrome.'
Meanwhile Tuyen said that he and his wife do not dare to have a child,
even though they have been married several years, because their lives
are so difficult.
He said: 'Our only wish is to have some philanthropists or doctors help
my wife to make her normal face again.'
Doctor Hoang Van Minh from the Ho Chi Minh City Medicine and Pharmacy
University Hospital claims Phuong, could regain some of her previous
beauty with medical treatment.
Dr Hoang visited Phuong this week at her house in the Mekong Delta
province of Ben Tre where he said it was likely she did have
mastocytosis. He said Phuong's face still swells and she is itchy with
frequent diarrhoea, which are common signs of the disease.
There is currently no cure but there are many medicines to help treat
its symptoms.
'She needs to be treated for her allergies first,' Dr Hoang said.
He added that his treatment plan could restore between 50-70 percent of
her skin to normal and laser therapy could reduce the folds.
Dr Hoang said there should be more tests to verify his initial diagnosis
and find any other diseases she might have.
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