Teen diagnosed with 'one in 1,000,000,000' werewolf syndrome breaks world record for 'hairiest face'
A teenager has broken the world record for having the hairiest face.
Lalit Patidar from India has an extremely rare condition called hypertrichosis, known as werewolf syndrome.
There's only been around 50 recorded cases of someone having the unique condition since the Middle Ages, says Guinness World Records, making Lalit a one in a billion.
To assess Lalit, the 18-year-old had to travel to Milan, Italy, to visit a trichologist and starred on the TV show, Lo Show dei Record.
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It was then determined that he had a 201.72 hairs per square centimeter of skin, thus breaking the world record for a having the hairiest face.
Lalit said he was 'speechless' to have been awarded such an accolade, adding: "I don’t know what to say because I’m very happy to get this recognition."
Chatting with Guinness World Records, the teenager recalled how fellow students were scared of him when he was a child.
"They were scared of me but when they started knowing me and talking to me they understood I was not so different from them, and it was just on the outside that I looked different, but I’m not different inside," said Lalit.
While some people with hypertrichosis may feel included to shave their face, Lalit has no intention of shaving his.
In regards to what he tells people who suggest that he gets rid of his facial hair, the teenager said: "There is not much to say to people about that. I tell them that I like how I am and I don’t want to change my look."
With his unique look in mind, Lalit has quite the social media following and boasts 265,000 followers on Instagram on one of his pages.
He also has a YouTube channel where he has an impressive 108,000 subscribers. On the video sharing platform, he documents his day-to-day life.
Elsewhere in the world record-breaking world, Tomiko Itooka, the former oldest person in the world, passed away in December.
She had taken the title of the oldest living person in the world back in August 2024, having made it to 116 years old.
Tomiko credited her long life to her very specific morning routine. Each morning she'd eat a banana and a yogurt-flavored Japanese dairy drink called Calpais.
Elsewhere, her family credited her active lifestyle for Tomiko's extremely long life.
"A devout Buddhist, she completed the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage (a journey to 33 temples in the Kansai region) in her eighties," writes Guinness World Records.
"And aged 100, she remained able to climb the stone steps of Ashiya Shrine without the aid of a walking stick."
Topics: Guinness World Records, India, World News, Social Media, YouTube
Niamh Shackleton