Twenty-One Year Old Woman Has No Eyes or Nose

  

The word faceless is tossed around quite a bit these days. Oftentimes you hear someone complaining about a big, faceless corporation screwing over its employees. But this story gives a whole new perspective to the concept of being faceless.

Khadija Khatoon is a 21-year-old woman from Kolkata, West Bengal, India and she was born without a face. While not completely faceless, this woman has no eyes or nose. The only facial feature she has is a slit on her left cheek. The slit isn’t quite a mouth either, as Khatoon’s head and face are covered with excessive skin folds. Doctors have diagnosed her with Neurofibromatosis. When she was born, her parents, Rashid Mulla and Amina Bibi, knew she was different. She did not open her eyes for two months and there were excessive skin folds over her eyes.

When her parents finally took their infant to the hospital to consult with doctors, Khadija ended up spending six months in the hospital as she was subjected to a battery of tests. At the end of those six months, the physicians informed her parents that, in all likelihood, any attempt to surgically correct Khadija’s condition would result in her death. So her parents returned to their rural village with no idea what to expect or how long they would be able to keep their only daughter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-PmVVpfhKk

The already weird situation became even stranger as the extra flaps of skin grew larger. Soon, Khadija’s head was covered with irregular swelling and growths. Her neighbors shunned her and she was unable to attend school. Although she still suffers difficulties, over the last two decades, her life has become routine, as she wakes up, drinks tea, and spends all day with her parents. Despite not having a normal mouth, Khadija is able to speak through the slit, although her voice is not very loud. While she has every reason to complain, the young woman proclaims that she is happy and has no regrets about how her life has turned out.

In recent weeks, her situation has received international media attention. A local official, Rupak Dutta, was passing through Kolkata when he noticed Khadja. He decided to help address her situation by petitioning the government for money to help the young woman combat her affliction. Surgeons have been informed of her case and now speculate that her Neurofibromatosis is hiding a dangerous tumor, going so far as to suggest she may die if surgery isn’t performed to remove the excess skin and the underlying growth. Such a surgery is outside the financial capabilities of her family of five, which survives on a little over $100 per month. Not to be deterred, Dutta organized a Crowdfunder page to raise money for the surgery.

While the fundraising processes continues, enough money has already been raised to begin the first round of testing to help treat Khadja’s condition. This bizarre story may soon have a happy ending.