Most people feel the desire, at one time or another, to change something about their appearance. Perhaps you don’t like your nose, or your hair color, or the way you walk. Body image is a huge issue in societies across the globe.
For one man in southwestern China, the way he looks has defined his whole life. Suffering from severe facial deformity, his features resemble that of most comic book aliens. But now there is hope that he could undergo a surgery that would change his face – and his life – forever. Read on to get the whole story.
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Xia Yuanhai is a fifty three year old man living in Laotu village in Chongqing, southwestern China. He is recognized everywhere he goes by the severe physical deformities that define his face – and his life. He suffers from facial hyperplasia, which is excessive tissue enlargement throughout his face.
His entire life, Xia Yuanhai’s face has been disproportionate. As a child, it was mild and only slightly differentiated him from other children. Because of this, his family elected not to treat the affliction, as they could not have guessed how it would progress and treatment was very expensive.
His brother, sixty six year old Xia Yuanchang says that the condition has worsened as Xia Yuanhai has aged, as the enlarged tissue has wreaked havoc on his body, crushing his teeth and causing him to go deaf.
So years later, Xia Yuanchang is desperately working to raise the funds necessary to pay for surgery that will restore his brother’s face, and save his life.
The story of Xia Yuanhai may bring to mind another story of a man who suffered from great facial deformities and the emotional anguish that accompanies such an affliction.
Joseph Carey Merrick was an English man with very severe deformities who was first exhibited at a freak show as the “Elephant Man”, and then went to live at the London Hospital after he met Frederick Treves, so becoming well known in London society. Merrick was born in Leicester, and began to develop abnormally during the first few years of his life: his skin appeared thick and lumpy, he developed enlarged lips, and a bony lump grew on his forehead, one of his arms and both of his feet became enlarged and at some point during his childhood he fell and damaged his hip, resulting in permanent lameness.
Merrick died on April 11, 1890, at the age of 27. Although the official cause of his death was asphyxia, Dr. Frederick Treves, who performed the autopsy on the body, said that Merrick had died of a dislocated neck. He believed that Merrick, who had to sleep sitting up because of the weight of his head, had been attempting to sleep lying down to “be like other people”. In absence of the possibility of genetic tests, the exact cause of Merrick’s deformities has long been unclear, so that throughout much of the 20th century it was speculated that Merrick was affected by other neurological syndromes. Only in 1986 it was conjectured that he had Proteus syndrome, a very rare congenital disorder also known as Wiedemann syndrome (named after the German pediatrician Hans-Rudolf Wiedemann). This has been definitely proven in 2003 by a study by Charis Eng concerning DNA tests conducted on his hair and bones.
What do you think of Xia Yuanhai’s story? Do you know of someone who has suffered from physical deformities? How have those deformities affected their life? Share your thoughts, stories, and opinions here in the comments section below.
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