The young man living with the face of a PENSIONER: Mysterious illness makes a 30-year-old look half a century older
- Yuan Taiping, from Chongqing, south west China, looks about 80 year old
- He is just 30 and suffers from an undiagnosed condition that has aged him
- His younger brother has developed the condition that stumped doctors too
A mysterious medical condition has left a young man in China looking nearly three times his age.
Yuan Taiping, from Chongqing, south west China, appears to have a face of an 80-year-old pensioner. However, the young man is in fact just 30 years of age.
Despite having visited numerous hospitals in the past ten years, Yuan is yet to identify the cause of his unusual symptom, reported the People's Daily Online.
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Yuan Taiping (above), from Chongqing, south west China, appears to have a face of an 80-year-old pensioner
He looked normal up to about 20. Above, he is pictured in his younger days. It's not known how old he is here
Yuan Taiping (right), 30, with brother Yuan Taihua (left), 25, who has also shown symptoms of the illness
Yuan, a manager at a construction company, first noticed changes in his body when he was 20.
Oedemas started developing on his arms and legs and deep lines began to appear on his face shortly afterwards.
Yuan, who up until then had a normal appearance, initially thought this was down to his heavy work load and worries from daily life.
When the wrinkles started appearing on his head, he decided to go to hospital.
However, despite numerous visits and copious amounts of medicine, nothing seemed to help.
His condition is affecting his every day life as well since he no longer resembles his ID.
Bank tellers would often turn him away when he tries to withdraw cash because of this.
Yuan Taiping gets turned away by bank tellers because he no longer looks like the photograph on his ID card
Doctors are completely stumped by his unusual condition. It doesn't appear to be hereditary or environmental
Even his wife, Xiang Chunyan has been affected in unusual ways.
She said: 'Every time I go out with my husband, people will stare at us like we're abnormal.
'Some would say that I'm so young, why am I with an old man.'
The mysterious illness seems to have gripped other people in the area too.
Yuan's younger brother has also been affected by the unusual condition.
Yuan Taihua is just 25 this year and is currently suffering from the oedema stage of the condition.
He has to go to the hospital regularly to drain the swelling.
Two other people from their village and a neighbouring village are also found to suffer from the condition so it appears that it's not hereditary.
What's more, no one in his family has ever suffered from the condition.
As Yuan considers his environment to be relatively unpolluted, he has ruled out environmental factors.
Until he has been successfully diagnosed however, Yuan has to continue suffering through his condition.
The mysterious illness seems to have gripped other people in the area too, including a man from nearby village. Above, Yuan Taiping is telling his story to a reporter
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