Woman who ages overnight

Woman who ages overnight getting younger

VietNamNet Bridge - Nguyen Thi Phuong, 26, who suddenly turned wrinkled like an 80-year-old woman, now looks younger after a month and a half of treatment at the HCM City Medical University Hospital.

Phuong at present.

According to Prof., Dr. Dang Van Phuoc, the hospital’s deputy director, Phuong’s skin condition has improved and her face looks younger with less wrinkles. The current treatment helps to erase 25 to 30 percent of Phuong’s itched and wrinkled skin. The woman is in good health and has gained two kilos.

Phuong is actually suffering from Mastocytosis and Acquired Cutis Laxa, according to the result of a skin biopsy conducted by medical experts at Baylor University in Texas and tested by MD Anderson Cancer Center in the US, announced Prof., Dr. Phuoc on November 21.

Mastocytosis is a disorder caused by the presence of too many mast cells which produce a number of symptoms like skin lesions, diarrhea, abdominal discomforts and other infections.

Meanwhile, Acquired Cutis Laxa tends to follow (and may be caused by) severe illness characterized by fever, inflammation, and a severe skin rash (erythema multiforme), an injury to the nerves that control blood vessel dilation and contraction, or an autoimmune condition.

Phuong’s condition is very rare since she is the second patient among seven billion people on the planet to have been diagnosed with Mastocytosis and Acquired Cutis Laxa.

According to Dr. Phuoc, Phuong will be treated for two or three more months before undergoing a plastic surgery to remove the deep wrinkles on her face.

The woman, who had grabbed headlines at home and abroad because of her strange condition, said red rashes “suddenly” appeared on her face “for no reason” four years ago. The face became itchy and later turned wrinkled.

She has always stood by her conviction that neither seafood nor any other kind of food allergy is the cause of her disease.

Except for her aged face and hands, her voice is as sweet as an 18-year-old girl. She eats, drinks and walks like a young woman.

Phuong’s old photos and latest photos after nearly two months of treatment:

Tuoitre/VNE

Who are the world’s handsomest men?

Italians are considered the most handsome men in the world, while men who are balding and aging do not necessarily lose their looks, according to an international survey on what makes men attractive.
A "Male Beauty" survey of nearly 10,000 men and women in 12 countries conducted by market research firm Synovate found that good hygiene was actually the top requirement for men to being considered handsome.
The second main requirement to be considered good-looking was confidence, with nearly one fifth of all respondents saying a man must carry himself well, followed by having a "great smile."

Hair, or a lack of, seemed to have little impact with only one percent of respondents saying that a full head of hair was needed to be handsome.
Older men can also take heart as 60 percent of respondents said a man's appearance gets better with age, with Americans, Chinese, Greeks and Malaysians agreeing with that the most.
"Words like distinguished, refined and dignified are regularly used to describe older men," Bob Michaels, Synovate spokesman, said in a statement.
"Here, men are seen like a fine wine - they only get better. Which is good news for some of us."
But looks did also come down to geography.
The survey, conducted in October in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Greece, Malaysia, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Britain and the United States, found Italian men were considered to be the most handsome -- even though Italy was not one of the countries where people were polled.
They were followed by men from the United States, Russia and Brazil.
Being clean-shaven was also a preference agreed by the majority of men and women, although the numbers varied in markets such as Canada and the United States, where Hollywood actors Brad Pitt and George Clooney have made a little stubble sexy.


Highlighting the discrepancies between the sexes, slightly more women than men considered wearing aftershave or cologne to be sexy, although overall the number of people who agreed and disagreed with that statement was equal.

In Spain, more men than women consider having muscles and dressing well to be essential requirements, while the opposite was true for Greek women, who were more likely than their male counterparts to think a macho look was appealing.
Far more British, French and Australian women also seemed to value "a great smile" than men do.
Despite almost one in three women rating their partner's looks as being very important to them, over 70 percent of men said they maintained their appearance to satisfy themselves.
Deodorant was picked as the most used beauty aid by men, followed by whitening toothpaste and aftershave.
But despite their efforts, less than half of all male respondents thought they looked sexy.
Synovate used face-to-face and phone interviews to compile the survey. Respondents were aged between 15 and 64 years.