Six-year-old Aizza Akhil from Wayanad in India is living with a rare genetic condition that has caused her skin to become loose, sagging and wrinkled, making her appear much older than her age.
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Aizza suffers from Cutis Laxa, a rare connective tissue disorder that affects the skin’s elasticity and can cause it to hang loosely in folds.
Her condition has also affected her experience at school, where she has been mocked by some children because of her appearance.
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Speaking to The Sun, Aizza said: “They call me grandma at school. They tease me saying that my skin looks like an old woman.”
Her parents, 27-year-old housewife Anjali and 32-year-old security guard Akhil KC, are now trying to raise money for further medical treatment and surgeries for their only child.
According to her parents, they did not notice anything unusual when Aizza was born. Anjali said she had a normal pregnancy and underwent the required scans, ultrasounds and medical treatment before giving birth through a C-section.
She said Aizza was born healthy with normal features, but changes to her skin became noticeable when she was around six months old.
Anjali said: “I had a normal pregnancy. I underwent the required treatment, all the scans and ultrasounds and medicines.
“The delivery was a C-section. She was born a healthy child with regular features.
“But by the time she was six months old, we noticed her skin had changed. We could not understand the reason.
“We were told that she has a rare condition, I couldn’t even spell it properly. I had neither heard about it nor could understand what the cause was.”
Her parents took her to more than a dozen doctors across Kerala as they tried to understand the condition and find ways to manage it.
According to Anjali, doctors warned the family that Aizza’s condition could become more difficult as she grows older, with her skin continuing to lose elasticity and the condition potentially affecting her internal organs, tissues and immunity.
Aizza already has respiratory problems and suffers from dry and itchy skin. She takes daily medication to help with her breathing and requires regular medical care and products to keep her skin moisturised.
Anjali said her daughter’s treatment costs the family up to 20,000 rupees, around £160, every month, while Akhil earns the equivalent of about £120 a month.
The family’s financial difficulties became more serious earlier this year when Aizza required surgery after the skin around her left eyebrow began to droop and cover her eye.
The procedure cost her parents almost £800 and is expected to be one of several surgeries she may need as she grows.
Anjali said: “The doctors have told us to be prepared for more plastic surgeries as she grows. We need money for that.
“We want her to have a safe and healthy life. God has given us a daughter and we want to take care of her.
“We want to provide her with everything and let her live a normal and happy life.”
Despite the challenges she faces, Aizza has gradually become more comfortable around her classmates as they have learned more about her condition.
Her uncle, Arjun George, said the family visited her school and spoke with her teachers before an assembly was organised to explain Aizza’s condition to the other students.
He said: “We went to the school and met her teachers.
“After that an assembly was organised and all students were informed about her condition.”
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