'Real-life Benjamin Button': Newborn baby looks like an 80-year-old

With hollow eye sockets, rough skin texture and wrinkles all over his face, he looked more like an 80-year-old man than a newborn baby.

But now Biswajit and his wife, Parul Patro, say they’re getting used to the interest in their baby's unusual appearance from curious guests.

“We can only thank God,” Biswajit says. “There is no need to be unhappy about the appearance of my son. We will accept him the way he is. We are so happy to have a baby boy in the house.” The baby was born suffering from the rare Hutchinson-Gilford Syndrome, also known as progeria. Only one in every four million children worldwide are born with the condition, which causes premature ageing.

In most cases sufferers don’t live beyond the age of 13 – but Biswajit and Parul are hopeful their son will live for longer.

Meanwhile many people have come to see the baby. “We have been getting a lot of visitors; relatives, neighbours and even people from neighbouring villages have come to see our son. We are happy to host them all,” Biswajit says.

“We are already blessed to have to have a daughter. Now we are a family of four. What else could we ask for?”

Sources: Daily Mail; Metro.co.uk

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