Nguyen Thi Phuong, 23 became 50 years older in only a few days

Nguyen Thi Phuong of Vietnam told her story:

- was 23 when she had a bad reaction to seafood one day in 2008.
- became itchy all over, scratching even while sleeping.
- took some medicine bought at a local pharmacy
- after one month of taking the drugs, became less itchy but hives remained on skin.
- switched to traditional medicine: all hives disappeared and no more itching. But then skin began to sag and fold, affecting the face, chest and stomach
- her stomach have folds like an old woman who has given birth several times although she has never given birth.
- disease has not affected menstrual cycle, hair, teeth, eyes and mind.

Doctors say it could've been caused by long-term use of traditional medicines as they are often spiked with corticoids (steroids), which speed up the effects of the medicine but could've also triggered the rare skin disease mastocytosis, where the body produces too many mast cells, causing side effects like swelled face and abnormally-growing skin sections.

Nguyen Thi Phuong at 21



Nguyen Thi Phuong now, at 26



With her husband, who's 33 years old