A young girl from China has become a lonely recluse after she developed hirsutism following a life-saving bone marrow transplant and drug treatment, reports say.
According to China's Xinhua news agency, the 16-year-old, known only as Nana, began growing thick dark hair on her face and body after receiving treatment for a life-threatening case of aplastic anemia.
(Credit: Imaginechina)
Nana was diagnosed with the condition in 2010. With aplastic anemia, the body's bone marrow is unable to produce sufficient new blood cells, according to the National Lung Blood and Heart Institute.
"The doctor said that…it was very serious and without treatment, [Nana] would die," the girl's mother told Xinhua.
The teenager was admitted to a hospital in Zhejiang province, where she was started on a potent drug treatment regimen. Nana's health soon improved, but before long, another challenge was to emerge in the young girl's life.
Liao Shen Evening News writes:
[Nana] needs to rely on the drug treatment, but the side effects of the drugs include this "hairy disease." After taking these drugs…the girl's face has grown a thick black beard, and her arms and legs are covered with body hair.
"Every day she cries, wanting to go to school," her mother said, adding that this side effect was entirely unexpected.
Nana was reportedly an excellent student and "lively" child, but since the side effect of the drug has become more and more obvious, Xinhua writes that the girl has become increasingly reclusive.
"Once a lively young girl, there are days when Nana will not speak a word...and more and more, she spends her hours hidden in her room reading books by herself," the news agency writes.
This is not the first time this year that The Huffington Post has written about young girls struggling with conditions that have resulted in excess hair on their bodies.
In Februrary, HuffPost UK wrote about three "incredible" sisters from India whose lives have been "blighted by one of the rarest conditions in the world -- werewolf syndrome." The sisters' bodies are covered from head to foot in thick hair.
In June, a 6-year-old Chinese schoolgirl named Liu Jiangli, who is partially covered in black fur, made headlines with her moving story.
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