The rapid ageing effects of progeria

Premature ageing is a condition which will concern anybody who has a fair degree of vanity. The thought of a receding hair line, or developing early facial wrinkles induces fear in many people who routinely go to extraordinary lengths to retain their youthful looks. Symptoms such as these may give the impression of a person being ten to twenty years older than they are in reality and yet, that's usually the limit to it's severity. To put this minor concern into context, it pales in comparison to the rapid ageing process of an extremely rare condition affecting a small minority of children. This is known as progeria.

This genetic disorder is so rare in fact, that it only occurs once in every eight million births worldwide, giving the sufferer the look of somebody much older than they actually are. The appearance of the disease is not evident after the initial birth of a child, but symptoms begin to manifest after a few months. The onset of the condition is not too dissimilar to malnourishment, with the subject appearing lighter than they should with a general appearance of fragility. The extreme conditions for which it has become infamous develop later in life and become more pronounced throughout the ageing process. There are a whole host of these, including a look of advanced age, arthritis, various respiratory problems and kidney failure.

This gives the curious impression of an elderly person residing in the body of a small child with a whole host of age related medical problems to accompany it. Unfortunately, the ageing effects are not just restricted to the visual, they also take their toll in a physical manner with the body suffering as though it were the same age as it's deceptive appearance, making it susceptible to everything from hip displacement to general muscle atrophy. There is no known cure for the disease at this time, despite experiments in a variety of medical fields which unfortunately have not proven successful. It is said that the accelerated ageing rate of the disease is between eight to ten times faster than that of an average person and as a result, very few afflicted with it live beyond the age of thirteen years. One curious fact to ponder, however, is that as the body ages in this manner, the mind may potentially follow suit with the sufferer displaying an intelligence that is recorded as being between average to high, this has not been conclusively proven however.