Zara Hartshorn, a 13 year old from Rotherham, England, suffers from a disease that causes her skin to appear much older than it is. Lipodystrophy is a problem that causes fatty tissues in the skin to degenerate. The daily battle of being a teenager is already difficult, especially when Zara appeared to be a full grown woman at 10 years old, but now looks like a retiree at 50.
Zara's mother, Tracey Hartshorn, realized her daughter had the disease as soon as they left the hospital after giving birth. Tracey and her two other children also suffer from the genetic disease, though Zara has the worst of it, looking older than her 21 year old sister and 16 year old brother.
“I’d seen it all before with my other children — the loose skin, the hollow face and the wrinkles around her chin,” Tracey said. “But I’d never seen a case so severe on a baby so young — my heart sank. I felt so guilty, because when she was a baby I knew the pain she would go through later in life, and I knew I had passed the disorder on.”
The condition, lipodystrophy, doesn't generaly affect a person's overall health. The damage is mainly on a person's confidence and sense of self. The Body, a website about HIV/AIDS resources comments on the condition because it is also a side of effect of HIV treatments and other antiretroviral drugs.
"[Lipodystrophy] is widely identified with the 'AIDS look,' severe facial lipoatrophy can 'out' you as a person with HIV, leaving you vulnerable to stigma, discrimination and worse. It is not to be dismissed as a 'vanity' or 'cosmetic' issue."
Sadly, there is no cure or treatment for lipodsytrophy, but plastic surgery can help modify some of the effects. Zara's family being on public assistance doesn't cover cosmetic surgeries, but she still dreams about getting involved with beauty therapy as an adult. Taking public transportation is also difficult because drivers never believe her age and she also fears for life at school.
“If I can run and hide, I answer back, then run away. But most of the time I just have to take it,” she said. “Otherwise, I’m scared they’ll beat me up.”
Written by Amy Munday
Huliq.com
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