These bizarre medical conditions should make us all heave a big sigh of relief that we were not likewise afflicted. These poor people! In the olden days, most of them would probably have been snuffed out as soon as possible, which, in one sense, might be for the best. "Normal" humans do not react too graciously when confronted with this type of anomaly.
Polymelia
The main causes of extra limbs is the partial development of a conjoined twin, of a genetic mutation (spontaneous or inherited) that affects fetal development. It can also occur due to the effect injuries, toxins and/or infections during crucial periods of fetal development.
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Cutaneous Horns
It is composed of compacted keratin (the same protein in nails). The size and shape of the growth can vary considerably, but most are a few millimeters in length. Squamous cell carcinoma is often found at the base. It usually occurs in fair-skinned elderly adults with a history of significant sun exposure
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Werewolf-Syndrome
Hypertrichosis is the overproduction of hair anywhere on the body. Men and women, babies and adults — the condition doesn’t discriminate. There are variations of the disorder, some resulting in hair growth patterns that likely contributed to ancient “wolfman” folklore. (In fact, in the past, people with hypertrichosis were often featured in carnival sideshows.) Some people are affected head to toe, while others may only experience unusual hair growth on isolated parts of their bodies.
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Progeria
Progeria is an extremely rare, fatal genetic condition. The word Progeria comes from the Greek progerosmeaning ‘prematurely old’. The Greek word pro means ‘before’, while the word geras means ‘old age’.
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Cold Immunity (this one needs to be studied closely by doctors)
Wim Hof of the Netherlands is giving the medical community yet another reason to be baffled as he climbs Mount Everest with nothing but his shorts on and dives beneath arctic ice for record periods of time. Evidently the cold has no effect on him,or at least not to the normal extent.
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Macrodactyl
Macrodactyly is an uncommon condition in which a baby’s toes or fingers are abnormally large due to the overgrowth of the underlying bone and soft tissue. The condition is congenital, meaning babies are born with it.
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Tree-Bark Skin
Also called Lewandowsky-Lutz dysplasia, is a rare inherited genodermatosis characterized by chronic infection with HPV leading to polymorphous cutaneous lesions and high risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancers. The exact prevalence of EV is unknown; more than 200 cases have been reported in the literature so far.
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Hidrocefalia
As the name implies, it is a condition in which the primary characteristic is excessive accumulation of fluid in the brain. Although hydrocephalus was once known as “water on the brain,” the “water” is actually cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)–a clear fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. The excessive accumulation of CSF results in an abnormal widening of spaces in the brain called ventricles. This widening creates potentially harmful pressure on the tissues of the brain.
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Neurofibromatosis
Neurofibromatosis is a genetic disorder that disturbs cell growth in your nervous system, causing tumors to form on nerve tissue. These tumors may develop anywhere in your nervous system, including in your brain, spinal cord and nerves. Neurofibromatosis is usually diagnosed in childhood or early adulthood.
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Polyostotic Fibrous Dysplasia
A disorder that features the replacement of multiple areas of bone by fibrous tissue, which may cause fractures and deformity of the legs, arms, and skull.
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Blaschkolines
In the episode, what the investigator discovered was something called Blaschko’s lines. These swirling patterns are found on the backs of many chimeras. Often you need UV light to see them. These patterns arise from the fact that chimeras start out with two cells, each with different DNA. Remember, DNA is a set of instructions for creating and running an individual. Because a chimera starts out with two cells with different DNA, the chimera ends up with some cells that have one set of instructions and others that have a different set.
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Pain Insensitivity
It sounds great right? Never feeling any pain. The truth is, however, that it is probably one of the most dangerous things that could happen to a human. Often children that are affected by this disorder acquire terribly debilitating injuries as a result of scratching themselves, biting off their tongue, or walking around on broken bones.
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Cold Uticaria
Cold urticaria (ur-tih-KAR-e-uh) is a skin reaction to cold. Skin that has been in contact with cold develops reddish, itchy welts (hives). The severity of cold urticaria symptoms varies widely. Some people have minor reactions to cold, while others have severe reactions. Swimming in cold water is the most common cause of a whole-body (systemic) reaction. This could lead to very low blood pressure, fainting, shock and even death.
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Haemangioma
Infantile haemangioma (American spelling ‘hemangioma’) describes a benign (non-cancerous) condition affecting cutaneous blood vessels. It is also known as proliferative haemangioma because it is due to proliferating endothelial cells; these are the cells that line blood vessels. Infantile haemangiomas are proliferative lesions that usually develop shortly after birth. They are distinct from vascular malformations, which are usually present at birth and are less common. Over 80% of infantile haemangiomas occur on the head and neck area. They grow to 80% of maximum size in the first three months and most stop growing at about 5 months. However, they may keep growing for up to 18 months.
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Blue Skin Syndrome
A condition caused by the ingestion of silver, the Argyria‘s most dramatic symptom is that the skin becomes blue or bluish-grey colored. On 2008, ABC reportersinterviewed Paul Karason, 40 year-old who’s skin turned blue after he used colloidal silver to ease his ailments. It started a decade ago, when he saw an ad in a new-age magazine promising health and rejuvenation through colloidal silver.
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Noma
Noma (disease) Noma (also referred to as cancrum oris, fusospirochetal gangrene, necrotizing ulcerative stomatitis, stomatitis gangrenosa) is a rapidly progressive, polymicrobial, often gangrenous infection of the mouth or genitals.
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Pica
Characterized by eating substances with no nutritional value the reasons behind it may vary. Although sometimes it can be the result of cultural traditions it is often found in children with developmental disabilities or iron deficiency. (I used to eat dirt as a small child; who's with me?)
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Trichotillomania
A disorder that leads to people compulsively pulling out their hair, the peak of onset is between the ages of 9 to 13 and in extreme cases the hair is actually ingested as well.
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Flu-Shot
A rare disorder, individuals suffer abrupt twisting motions whenever their muscles sustain any contraction. The most well-publicised case in recent history involved that of Deseree Jennings, the 25 year old girl who was aspiring to be a professional football cheerleader when she acquired the disease from a flu shot. Although she can’t walk forwards, stand in one spot, or talk normally while doing either of the two, she can walk backwards and even run during which her convulsions and strained speech temporarily revert to normal.
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Geographic Tongue
Is a harmless condition affecting the surface of your tongue. The tongue is normally covered with tiny, pinkish-white bumps (papillae), which are actually short, fine, hair-like projections. With geographic tongue, patches on the surface of the tongue are missing papillae and appear as smooth, red “islands,” often with slightly raised borders. These patches (lesions) give the tongue a map-like, or geographic, appearance. The lesions often heal in one area and then move (migrate) to a different part of your tongue. Geographic tongue is also known as benign migratory glossitis.
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Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
Probably as a result of something malfunctioning in the brain’s occipital lobe, this disorder causes people to perceive objects as being either much larger or smaller than they really are. Moreover, the individual will also misperceive the passage of time and possibly have their sense of hearing and touch affected as well.
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Stone Man Syndrome
More formally known as Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva, this extremely rare mutation of the body’s repair mechanism often causes injured muscles, tendons, and ligaments to be ossified, or turned to bone. In fact, as the name suggests, within decades a person can be rendered completely immobile.
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Forgetlessness
Although this may sound like a really cool superhero power, it’s not. Not being able to forget anything can be extremely distracting and there is a reason brains are not typically wired this way. While rare, there are several people in the world who possess this superhuman memory capable of remembering seemingly unimportant details such as the weather every day for the past decade. You can find some of these individuals on our list of 25 amazing savant minds.
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Porphyria (Vampire Symdrome)
While there are people out there who crave blood, this is not the disorder we are addressing here. Porphyria is an incurable and inherited disease that causes not only blisters but also cramps and paralysis whenever the afflicted individual is exposed to sunlight. This shouldn’t be confused with polymorphic light eruption, however. The latter is actually a fairly common disorder afflicting approximately 15% of North Americans (mainly in the north) and only leads to mild rashes upon initial springtime exposure to sunlight.
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Fish Odor
Struggling with something called trimethylaminuria literally stinks. As a result of the body’s inability to break down a certain organic compound found in numerous foods an afflicted individual tends to give off an overwhelmingly strong fish-smelling odor. Unfortunately there is no cure but thus far people have managed to control it by employing various diets.
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Klein-Levin Syndrome
A strange and little understood disorder that can potentially lead to people sleeping for weeks on end. Fortunately most children that are afflicted will see the symptoms gradually disappear by the time they reach their twenties.
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Foreign Accent Syndrome
Typically the result of a stroke or severe migraine, this extremely rare disorder affects they way an individuals forms his or her words thus giving the perception that they are speaking with a foreign accent. One of the most recent cases was that of Sarah Coldwill in the Uk. After suffering from an exteme migraine she woke up in the hospital hours later speaking with what sounded like a Chinese accent although she had never once in her life been to China.
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Alien Hand Syndrome
Caused by the separation of lobes in the brain, people suffering from this disorder essentially lose control of their hand as it seemingly takes on a mind of its own. While there is no known cure, giving the hand something to grasp will often be enough to keep it preoccupied.
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Lewandowsky-Lutz dysplasia (HPV infections on the body)
Colloquially known as tree man illness is an extremely rareautosomal recessive genetic hereditary associated with a high risk of carcinoma of the skin. It is characterized by abnormal susceptibility to human papillomaviruses (HPVs) of the skin. The resulting uncontrolled HPV infections result in the growth of scaly macules and papules, particularly on the hands and feet. It is typically associated with HPV types 5 and 8, which are found in about 80 percent of the normal population as asymptomatic infections, although other types may also contribute.
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Myiasis
Maggots eating your flesh…and you don’t even know it! How do flies get in your body to lay eggs in the first place? How do people not realize there are hundreds of maggots eating their dying skin? How does it all happen? I don’t know, but the simple thought of the whole cycle makes me feel queasy.
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Diprosopus
That’s a Latinised Greek word meaning ‘two-face-person’, and it’s an exceedingly rare and somewhat disturbing genetic defect of birth. It’s also known as craniofacial duplication, and that name gives you a better idea of what these poor people suffer through. Now, that’s not to be confused with polycephaly – the unfortunate instance of people (or animals) being born with two heads.
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Human Vestigiality
Vestigials are structures that often appear functionless, a vestigial structure may retain lesser functions or develop minor new ones. In some cases, structures once identified as vestigial simply had an unrecognized function.
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Necrotizing Fascitis
The doctor will use the antibiotic to kill the bacteria infection inside the body. But some strep bacteria are too strong to cure using the antitoxic. The infection can led into a life threatening case. It can occur because of the mixture of bacterial infection in the body.
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Retinoblastoma
Retinoblastoma, a neuroblastic tumor, is the most common primary intraocular malignancy of childhood. Patients usually present with leukokoria (white reflex or white pupil), detected in primary care. The mean age at diagnosis is 12 months for bilateral tumors and 24 months for unilateral tumors. If untreated, almost all patients die of intracranial extension and disseminated disease within two years.
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Chemical Caused Birth Defects
This Birth defect is caused by Agent orange that was dropped during the Vietnam War by America. The effects of it will continue on in years to come.
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Elephant Man Disease
True elephantiasis is the result of a parasitic infection caused by three specific kinds of round worms. The long, threadlike worms block the body’s lymphatic system—a network of channels, lymph nodes, and organs that helps maintain proper fluid levels in the body by draining lymph from tissues into the bloodstream. This blockage causes fluids to collect in the tissues, which can lead to great swelling, called “lymphedema.” Limbs can swell so enormously that they resemble an elephant’s foreleg in size, texture, and color. This is the severely disfiguring and disabling condition of elephantiasis.
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Albinism
Albinism is a rare disorder found in fewer than five people per 100,000 in the United States and Europe. Other parts of the world have a much higher rate; for example, albinism is found in about 20 out of every 100,000 people in southern Nigeria. There are 10 types of the most common form of the condition, known as “oculocutaneous albinism,” which affects the eyes, hair, and skin. In its most severe form, hair and skin remain pure white throughout life. People with a less severe form are born with white hair and skin, which turn slightly darker as they age.
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Rhinocerebral Mucormycosis
To save his life, doctors had to remove his eyes, nose, upper jaw and all surrounding bone and tissue which meant that he literally lost his face. Tatum was a medical phenomena due to the fact that he survived the infection. Later he got a prosthetic face and he underwent surgeries so he could eat, drink and speak again. Due to his extreme experience, Tatum was highly profiled in the media. He was a courageous individual who served as a symbol of strength for the thousands of people who have lost their health.
If you go here, there are even more pictures of some of these anomalies. Be humble and grateful, people, that you are 99% "normal" and have not had to suffer through life with these physical indignities.
I acknowledge that some of these conditions have been brought on by human activity, but the vast majority of them are genetic or caused by natural parasites. So tell me again about this awesome "intelligent design"?
I was going to add a category called "Republican" but I was overwhelmed with sympathy for these poor folks so I blew it off. But it IS an abnormality, trust me.
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