Straight out of Ripley’s Believe It or Not, comes this true tale of a poor Chinese woman who has grown a horn resembling a goat’s on the left side of her head. She also appears to be growing another one on the right side.
The woman, 100-year old Zhang Ruifnag from central China’s Henan Province, began growing the monstrosity, which started as a small lump on her forehead, last year. It is now six centimeters long (more than two inches).
“The horn started as a patch of thick, rough skin on the left side of her forehead. We didn’t pay too much attention to it at first, but as time went on it just grew and grew. And now there is something growing on the right side of her forehead and it seems quite possible that it’s another horn,” said her youngest son, 60-year-old Zhang Guozheng.
The horn causes no pain to the centenarian who has seven children, six boys and a girl, the eldest of which is 82 years old, and many grandchildren. Living in a very rural area and too poor to afford hospital care, her children are worried about their mother’s condition but comforted by the fact that she is in no pain and appears to enjoy a peaceful satisfying life.
The condition is known as a cutaneous horn, which is an uncommon deformity. Composed of keratin, these horns usually develop in elderly adults, particularly those who have had a history of sun exposure. Still, a growth of this size is rare. In more than half of the cases, they are benign but they can be cancerous. The horns can be surgically removed but without treating their cause, they may return.
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