Time Leap? Young Woman Ages 50 Years in Just Days!

London, Oct 15 (IANS): At 23, she was at the prime of her beauty three years ago. Now, at 26, this Vietnamese woman is 50 years older, with wrinkled skin, looking like a septuagenarian.

Nguyen Thi Phuong's sad story began in 2008, when she says her youthful beauty began to fade over the course of just a few days, leaving her with sagging, wrinkled skin all over her face and body, The Sun reported.

Her story has sparked an internet debate asking if such rapid ageing is possible and medical experts are divided on what could have triggered it.

The rapid aging began as a result of an allergic reaction to seafood, it is claimed.

Until now she has apparently been forced to wear a mask in public to hide her appearance from prying eyes, but now doctors are attempting to establish what caused her sudden and horrifying ageing.

Her husband, carpenter Nguyen Thanh Tuyen says his love for his once beautiful wife has not faded while Phuong, now 26, says her condition has only worsened since she was first struck with the condition, according to the newspaper.

Doctors are at odds over what condition she has - some have argued it is lipodystrophy, a rare syndrome that causes a layer of fatty tissue beneath the surface of the skin to disintegrate while the skin itself continues to grow at a startling pace.

The syndrome, which has no cure, leaves its victims with loose folds of skin all over their bodies, wrinkled faces and the gaunt features of people decades older.

The condition is extremely rare and only 2,000 people throughout the world are thought to have lipodystrophy.

Nguyen claims she has long been allergic to seafood and that she had suffered a particularly bad reaction in 2008.

"I was really itchy all over my body. I had to scratch even while sleeping," the newspaper quoted her as saying.

She said she took some medicine bought at a local pharmacy instead of going to the hospital because she and her husband, now 33, were too poor to pay for treatment.

The carpenter said his wife's disease has not affected his love for her or their relationship.