Believe it or not, both of the pictures above are of the same woman. In fact, they were taken only a few years apart. The reason why Nguyen Thi Phuong appears to have aged so dramatically in only 3 years is still a mystery, but according to her, it all started with some seafood..

When Phuong developed a rash on her face after suffering an allergic reaction to some seafood, her husband bought her some medication to ease her symptoms. The medicine didn’t work, so she went to the doctor who prescribed her some pills for dermatitis. Unfortunately, after taking these pills for a week, her face began to swell up and break out in hives.

In desperation, Phuong went to a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine whose expensive treatments reduced her facial swelling but caused her to put on weight. Finally, the cost of her treatment became prohibitive as her husband had quit his job to care for her and in 2009, she decided to accept her condition as “decreed by God”

Now, three years later, Phuong’s skin has continued to deteriorate, not only on her face but on her body too:

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.

Phuong now works at a cashew-nut processing factory while her husband works as a carpenter. Their combined monthly income of £92 ($144) means that they can’t afford to undergo tests at their local hospital. However this month, doctors from Nguyen Dinh Chieu Hospital in Ben Tre Province where the couple live, agreed to examine Phuong for free and send her to the HCMC Dermatology Hospital if they failed to diagnose her condition.

A number of theories for her bizarre symptoms have been put forward by doctors including a reaction to the cocktail of medications she took, or one of a number of rare conditions. In fact, some doctors are speculating that it could be something no-one has ever seen before. Doctor Yen Lam Phuc of the Vietnam Military Medical Academy believes that the rapid aging could not be a side effect of a medical substance claimming:

‘It could be a totally new syndrome.’

Whatever the case, Nguyen has decided to move forward with her life, thanks largely to the support of her husband who says that her condition has done nothing to affect his love for her:

‘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.

Phuong added:

‘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.

Source : Asia One