Interesting Diseases: Parry-Romberg Syndrome
Source: Neurology
Humans find symmetry attractive. In studies, people from every culture in the world routinely rate more symmetrical faces as more beautiful than faces with even a slight asymmetry. The reason is that symmetry signals that you’re in good health.
Parry-Romberg syndrome wrecks all of that by selectively attacking one side of your face until its tissues have atrophied and withered up, leaving your face lopsided. It mostly strikes females between the ages of five and 15, and scientists think it might be caused by an autoimmune disorder.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
Adding to the agony of having one side of your face deflate while you’re still too young to understand why the world hates you, Parry-Romberg syndrome is often accompanied by severe pain from the forehead through the cheek and jaw. In one out of three cases, the condition worsens to the point that the sufferer can no longer open or close her jaw.
As is par for the course with humanity’s more interesting diseases, treatment options are limited and it isn’t really possible to stop the progress of the disorder, though reconstructive surgery is sometimes done after the disease has run its course. The good news is that Parry-Romberg isn’t fatal, so sufferers can expect to carry their unsightly deformity through life for a solid 60 or 70 years. Silver lining!
Next up: Can’t do a good British accent? Now you can. And you can’t ever stop…
