Bangladeshi Girl Becomes the First Female to have Tree Man Syndrome

Imagine growing warts at the age of 10 years. Embarrassing, right? But what if you had bark like warts growing out of your face? Embarrassing and painful. This is the condition that 10 year old Sahana Khatun is currently undergoing as she has been diagnosed with Epidermodysplasia Verruciformis, also known as “Tree Man disease.”

Tree man disease is a rare genetic disease that produces scaly, bark-like growths which particularly affect the hands and feet. The warts started growing around four months back but Sahana’s father, Mohammad Shahjahan, dismissed them, thinking the growth to be not harmful. But as the warts started spreading all over her face, it worried Shahjahan and he took her to a hospital in Dhaka.

Sahana with her father Mohammad Shahjahan

The doctors are still assessing the growth and identifying whether it is actually the diagnosed disease or not. Such kind of warts of Tree Man disease have usually affected males and one example is of Abul Bajandar whose hands were each consumed by growths which weighed 5 kg, with warts also growing on his legs, giving him the appearance of a tree. Bajandar has since undergone 16 surgeries at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Abul Bajandar before surgery and afterwards with his son.

Fortunately for the 27 -year old Bajandar, the warts were only on his hands and legs and he had a support system of wife and son to help him through the hard times. But the little Sahana is only 10 and she has such painful pops all over her face. Hopefully the doctors at Dhaka can help her with this as also hopes her father who said, “We are very poor. My daughter lost her mother when she was only six. I really hope that the doctors will remove the barks from my beautiful daughter’s face.”

Doctors are hopeful Sahana may have a less aggressive version of the illness and should be able to recover more quickly. Kudos to her courage and prayers for her well being!