Five Mysteriously Bizarre And Extremely Weird Medical Disorders You've Probably Never Heard Of (Part 2)

Hey there guys, today I'll be writing the concluding part of an article which I wrote and posted some days back. You can check it out by clicking here, and I'm sure you'll also find it interesting to read. In this article I'll be talking about five other weird medical disorders in addition to the previous five which I had earlier discussed in the preceding article. They include; Hypertrichosis(The Human Werewolf Syndrome), Eosinophilic esophagiti(food allergy), Progeria(The 80 Year old children), Porphyria(Vampire Disease), and lastly Leontiasis Ossea, otherwise known as Lion Face Syndrome.

---

1. Hypertrichosis(Human Werewolf Syndrome):

Regardless of the fact that most of us do appreciate and enjoy watching movies involving werewolves, movies such as; The Vampire Diaries and it's excerpt The originals, we would most definitely freak out if we were to ever physically come in contact with one, and you would probably react in the same way and manner if you by some happenstance managed to meet or come across someone with this weird medical disorder called Hypertrichosis which is otherwise referred to as Human werewolf syndrome. Hypertrichosis which is caused by a genetic mutation that causes the growth of thick facial and body hair, is a very rare medical disorder with less than 100 known reported cases earthwide(source).

Hypertrichosis thus causes the growth of an abnormal amount of hair all over the entire body, as extensive research on affected victims have shown that male victims affected by the disorder have their faces and eyelids covered by large amounts of hair while affected females tend to grow thick patches all over their bodies. A medical report relates this experience below;

...researchers knew the disorder runs in families, and in 1995 they traced the approximate location of the mutation to a section of the X chromosome (one of the two sex chromosomes) in a Mexican family affected by hypertrichosis.
A man in China with congenital hypertrichosis helped researchers break the case. Xue Zhang, a professor of medical genetics at the Peking Union Medical College, tested the man and his family and found an extra chunk of genes on the X chromosome. The researchers then returned to the Mexican family and also found an extra gene chunk (which was different from that of the Chinese man) in the same location of their X chromosomes.
(source)

Although there is currently no known permanent cure for congenital hypertrichosis, several medical procedures such as cosmetic temporary hair removal have in the past yielded encouragingly positive results, although the results are usually fleeting as the condition only abates for a relatively short period of time ranging from a few days to several weeks, and as such a lot of medical research and study is presently being done today to provide and come up with long lasting solutions and possibly a cure in the near future for victims of Hypertrichosis.

---

2. Eosinophilic esophagitis(food allergy):

Let's face it, everyone is allergic to some particular kind of food. You may be allergic to eggs while someone else might be allergic to rice, but does that make us victims of Eosinophilic esophagitis? The answer is a resounding NO! This is because unlike normal everyday food allergies Eosinophilic esophagitis is an extremely rare medical disorder characterized by an allergy to ALL kinds of food, be it cereal, carrots, vegetables, chicken or any type of food at all.

Eosinophilic esophagitis is not presently very well understood but has been observed and seen to be characterized by severe swallowing difficulty and heartburn which is caused by the buildup of eosinophil a type of white blood cell in the esophagus, which further causes food to get stuck when swallowed. Other symptoms which include regurgitation or vomiting may also be accompanied by severe appetite loss, thus inevitably allowing severe long term weight loss and possible malnutrition to set in if not properly and immediately addressed.
Due to the nature of the sickness, it's victims most times have to be fed through stomach tubes which helps bypass the problem of oral ingestion. An experience of a child suffering from Eosinophilic esophagitis is seen below;

Joshua Koscinski, a young boy who lives in New York, suffers from eosonophilic esophagitis. The disorder in his case is so extreme that even the scent of food causes him to be hospitalized. His mother feeds him through a tube directly to his stomach.
(source)

Although there is no permanent cure for this disorder several medications have been produced to help patients manage their conditions more effectively. Drugs such as corticosteroids which in many ways help control inflammation can be taken to help minimize it's effects, while more research is still been done on other new types of treatment which could help significantly minimize the symptoms and effects of the disorder.

---

3. Progeria(The 80 year old children):

Fathers and mothers all love their children, I love children, you love children and we all love healthy children. But would you lift and carry a child who seemed or appeared to be older than your grandparents or maybe even try to play with them in the first place? Well, I'll leave that question for you to answer later. But for now it might interest or disgust you to know that one in every four(4) million children are born with a rare medical disorder known as Progeria(source). So what exactly is this Progeria?

Well, Progeria which is an extremely rare genetic condition causes children to experience the effects of old age at a very young and tender age. Children suffering from progeria experience severe aging symptoms which include: wrinkled skin, premature hair loss(baldness), loss of body fat, stiff joints, stroke, hypertension, high blood pressure and in extreme circumstances heart failure and cancer. On average, progeria plagued children have a life expectancy of about 10 to 15years although most of them die just before or after celebrating their 13th birthday, with further research also showing that just 134 children across 46 different countries are affected(source). Progeria unfortunately is an extremely life threatening disorder and as such there is currently no known cure for it, but good physical therapy accompanied with equally good eating habits and regular exercise has been known to prove quite helpful to progeria victims.

---

4. Porphyria:

We all know vampires in vampire movies have really sharp fangs with which they tear and gruesomely rip apart their unlucky victims, while also viciously feeding on their blood. They also do all their best to avoid direct sunlight by any means necessary and as such are more active at night than in the daytime. Well, what if I told you they exist in our world today(almost actually)? Okay, yes they do not gruesomely feed on human blood and all that but still they share some strikingly similar physical resemblance with the real ones in those movies, as they possess seemingly sharp looking fangs and are also extremely allergic to sunlight as any form of exposure leaves them with severe rashes and skin burns, and as such they do all their best to stay off it. Persons with these and many more characteristics suffer from a rare medical condition known as porphyria otherwise known as vampire disease. It is often characterized by receding gums giving a fang like appearance, severe abdominal pain and extreme sunlight oversensitivity.

Porphyria is a group of diseases which involves the build up of chemicals called porphyrins thus leading to short and long term damaging effects on the skin or nervous system. Most kinds of porphyria are caused by a gene mutation of the gene responsible for the production of heme which is an iron rich fundamental component of haemoglobin. Porphyria currently has no cure but the condition can be managed to some extent by blood transfusion.

---

5. Leontiasis Ossea(Lion Face Syndrome):

According to wikipedia;

Leontiasis ossea, also known as leontiasis, lion face or Lion Face Syndrome, is a rare medical condition, characterized by an overgrowth of the facial and cranial bones. It is not a disease in itself, but a symptom of other diseases, including Paget's disease, fibrous dysplasia, hyperparathyroidism and renal osteodystrophy.
The common form is that in which one or other maxilla is affected, its size progressively increasing, and thus encroaching on the cavities of the orbit, the mouth, the nose and its accessory sinuses. Exophthalmos gradually develops, going on later to a complete loss of sight due to compression of the optic nerve by the overgrowth of bone. There may also be interference with the nasal respiration and with the taking of food. In the somewhat less common form of this rare disease the overgrowth of bone affects all the cranial bones as well as those of the face, the senses being lost one by one and death finally resulting from cerebral pressure.

There are quite a lot of complex terms above but basically what they're trying to say is that victims of the disorder are affected in such a way that he/she has a face resembling that of a lion, which is really weird if you ask me considering the fact that they do not get the other cool features of lions but only their faces(It sure does suck). And oh well, there is presently no treatment or cure for this medical disorder, although surgically chipping away pieces of the overgrown bone tends to help most times, but besides this procedure there isn't much anyone can do about it.

So that's it guys, these are the five weird disorders in more detail and I know you must have found most if not all to be really strange and bizarre. Let me know what you think in the comment section below and once again THANKS FOR READING.

---

To enjoy more interesting Science, technology, engineering and mathematics related posts, follow the @steemstem account, check out other wonderful posts using the #steemstem tag and also be sure to rub minds with other like minded individuals on the steemstem chatroom at steemit.chat.

---

Vote @aggroed, @steemgigs and @ausbitbank for witness. For a detailed but yet simplified explanation as to who witnesses are, what exactly they do and how to vote for them, check out this post on @ehiboss's blog. But you can click here now to vote for one right away.

---

Many thanks to @gbenga and @jodipamungkas for this lovely badge.

---

Image Sources:

• Image 1
• Image 2
• Image 3
• Image 4
• Image 5
• Image 6

Article References:

• Reference 1
• Reference 2
• Reference 3
• Reference 4
• Reference 5