The aging process, in fact, is inevitable for everyone, but it happens gradually and slowly, so a person has time to get used to the changes that occur with his body. Today, a disease that has accelerated all the aging processes in the body, Werner Morrison syndrome, has become a complex mystery for modern science.
The disease is extremely rare, so scientists are not yet able to find an effective method of treatment. This is a kind of anomaly in modern society. For the first time, the fact of the disease with this ailment was recorded in 1904 by a German scientist. Until now, the greatest minds of mankind are trying to study the incomprehensible process that provokes the premature aging of the human body, and are looking for methods to effectively combat the disease.
Where did this disease come from?
As a rule, the syndrome is inherited. Patients receive one abnormal gene located on the eighth chromosome from their parents. Due to genetic malfunctions, a mutation occurs, subsequently the child will inherit these genes. Changes are reflected in the work of the whole organism, including appearance.
To date, it has been possible to find out only that Werner syndrome is an autosomal recessive disease. But to refute or confirm this diagnosis by genetic examination is impossible.
Signs of the disease
As a fairly rare practice shows, the first symptoms of this ailment can occur after ten years of age. First of all, the strong growth lag is of concern. But most often, obvious signs can be seen only at 20 years old.
Experts identify a number of main symptoms:
- In a fairly short time, a person turns gray and soon loses all the hair on his head.
- The skin begins to rapidly age, hyperpigmentation, wrinkles appear on it, it becomes pale and dry.
Together with these irreversible processes , a person has a huge number of other pathologies:
- Atherosclerosis.
- Cataract.
- Disorders of the heart.
- Osteoporosis.
- Benign and malignant neoplasms.
Werner syndrome affects the endocrine system, so a person may not have secondary sexual characteristics: menstruation does not occur, there is an unnecessarily high voice timbre, malfunctioning of the thyroid gland, and diabetes (insulin resistant) develops. All this is familiar to people who have such a terrible syndrome.
Appearance
The patient with this ailment can be recognized from afar, because such people have very different facial features from the usual ones. As a rule, they become pointed, the nose is similar to the beak of a bird, and the chin protrudes strongly, a small mouth, the oval of the face acquires a moon shape. Fatty tissues and muscles also completely atrophy. Therefore, arms and legs are abnormally thin - all this affects normal mobility. Human movements are difficult, he quickly gets tired and does not withstand large physical exertion.
There is another, main symptom that characterizes Werner syndrome. Photos of people suffering from this disease are striking: at the age of 40, they look twice as old. According to statistics, patients who have undergone this disease do not live up to 50 years. Either the body affects cancer, or death occurs due to a heart attack or stroke.
Who is at risk?
Often this disease occurs in the male half of the population. Werner syndrome (symptoms) appears after adolescence. The disease develops at the molecular level, mutates a gene that is responsible for the encoding of DNA. Scientists have not yet found out what is the relationship of this syndrome with other similar diseases that cause rapid aging. In addition, they doubt that there is any.
Although this disease is rare, there are such people, and modern society should treat them more loyally, because no one is safe from this. People who have encountered this disease have a very hard time. In addition to the frightening appearance, there are many concomitant ailments that make it impossible to exist normally. The initial stage is accompanied by external changes, and all subsequent provoke organ diseases.
Werner syndrome develops so rapidly that a patient at the age of 40 is likely to be affected by cancer, because malignant formations are not uncommon in this disease.
Diagnostics
Almost all ailments usually occur in adulthood, and even in old age, but only if it is not Werner syndrome, premature aging syndrome. Usually, with a full medical examination, patients have osteoporosis of the feet, as well as the legs, a violation of the structure of the ligaments and tendons. As a rule, the patient complains of poor eyesight, because cataract almost always occurs with a disease. Many have noticed disturbances in the brain, which is accompanied by a rapid decrease in intellectual abilities. Often, patients complain of pain in the heart.
In order to diagnose Werner syndrome, a complete clinical examination is prescribed. If the doctor is in doubt, he can determine the ability of fibroblasts to reproduce in culture.
Treatment
Werner syndrome is a plague of the 21st century. Scientists are diligently trying to study this disease, are looking for a solution to this problem and are working to rid modern society of this kind of anomaly. One thing can be said - this is one of the rarest cases of genetic defects.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that medicine has made enormous progress in development over the past ten years, to date, scientists cannot deal with this ailment. Is it possible to cure him? This is still a mystery. To maintain the condition of the patient, special therapy is carried out, which helps stop rapid aging and prevents organ diseases. Prevention is carried out regularly to reduce the symptoms that are present with this disease. But doctors cannot stop this process to the end.
Will plastic help?
Of course, you can seek the help of good plastic surgeons and improve your appearance. But a person is aging incredibly quickly, so this kind of help will be short-lived. One can only hope that in the near future the development of scientists will be successful and a medicine will be found that gives the desired effect. Recently, much hope has been placed in the field of medicine, which is actively engaged in the treatment of the most hopeless ailments with the help of stem cells. It remains only to believe that soon using this method it will be possible to cure Werner Johnson syndrome.