Poverty-Stricken Family With ‘Werewolf Syndrome’ Receive Free Laser Treatment!

Family with ‘werewolf syndrome’ receive free laser treatment
Hope: Mandira Budhathoki, seven, lives in poverty (Picture: Reuters)
For loving parents Nara and Devi Budhathoki, the stares of curiosity she and her three children endure are nothing to the poverty they face.
But it is the so-called ‘werewolf syndrome’ they suffer from that could yet be their saviour. The children, daughters Mandira, aged seven, Manjura, 14, and son Niraj, 12, and their parents are covered in thick, dark hair.
Now Dhulikhel Hospital in their native Nepal is using laser treatment to remove the hair. For free.
Devi Budhathoki, 38, poses for a photograph before undergoing laser hair removal treatment in Karay, Dolkha District, some 190 km (118 miles) northeast of Kathmandu September 14, 2013. Devi Budhathoki and three of her children, Manjura, Mandira, and Niraj all suffer from Congenital Hypertrichosis Lanuginosa, a very rare disease that causes excessive body hair growth, and which is sometimes referred to as "werewolf syndrome". They are undergoing laser hair removal in order to lessen their symptoms. Picture taken September 14, 2013. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar (NEPAL - Tags: HEALTH SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 35 OF 37 FOR PICTURE PACKAGE "LIVING WITH 'WEREWOLF SYNDROME'". TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH 'BUDHATHOKI'
Devi Budhathoki, 38, before her laser hair removal treatment (Picture: Reuters)
Reuters photographer Navesh Chitrakar went to meet them. ‘Nara Bahadur does not mind Devi having excessive hair on her face. He said a good man does not pursue a woman for her appearance,’ said Mr Chitrakar.
‘But she has so little money she finds it difficult to pay for transport to get there.
Manjura Budhathoki, 14, poses for a photograph before undergoing laser hair removal treatment in Karay, Dolkha District, some 190 km (118 miles) northeast of Kathmandu September 14, 2013. Devi Budhathoki and three of her children, Manjura, Mandira, and Niraj all suffer from Congenital Hypertrichosis Lanuginosa, a very rare disease that causes excessive body hair growth, and which is sometimes referred to as "werewolf syndrome". They are undergoing laser hair removal in order to lessen their symptoms. Picture taken September 14, 2013. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar (NEPAL - Tags: HEALTH SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 33 OF 37 FOR PICTURE PACKAGE "LIVING WITH 'WEREWOLF SYNDROME'". TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH 'BUDHATHOKI'
Treatment: 14-year-old Manjura Budhathoki (Picture: Reuters)
Congenital hypertrichosis lanuginosa, to use its official medical name, has no known cure. Even after finishing a course of hair removal, they need to keep returning because the hair grows back again.
Mr Chitrakar added: ‘Spending time with her, I saw a mother who is fighting against all odds just to get a better future for her children. A Metro report.

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