Early symptoms of female progeria

There are thousands of types of diseases, and we dare not believe the existence of many of them, such as AIDS. Once infected, it is equivalent to the end of life. For example, if we look at the pictures of patients with progeria, we will find that although they are young, their faces have already started to look like those of old people, with wrinkles and spots all over their faces. What are the early symptoms of progeria in women?

Progeria (premature aging syndrome in children) is a genetic disease. The body ages 5 to 10 times faster than normal. Patients look like old people, and their organs quickly deteriorate, causing a decline in physiological functions. Symptoms include small stature, hair loss and delayed tooth eruption. Children with this rare disease may look like they are in their sixties or seventies even if they are only 16 years old. Children with the disease generally only live to 7 to 20 years old, and most of them will die from aging diseases such as cardiovascular disease. There is currently no effective treatment and the only treatment is targeted medication.

Symptoms and signs

Short stature, weight loss that is disproportionate to height, and immature sexual development. Subcutaneous fat tissue is reduced. The head and face are disproportionate, with the head occupying a relatively large area and the face being relatively small. The jaw is smaller than normal. The scalp veins are prominent and hair loss is widespread. The eyes are bird-eye shaped, the teeth are delayed in development, the chest is pear-shaped, the clavicles are short and underdeveloped, the posture is like a horse, the feet are wide apart, the feet are dragged when walking, and the hips are knocked out. The thumb is thin and the joint is permanently ankylosed.

The most characteristic clinical manifestation is thinning, tension, dryness and wrinkling of the skin. Brown punctate pigmentation is seen in many areas. The skin of the lower abdomen, thighs, and buttocks has a scleroderma-like appearance. The superficial veins in these areas are prominent and sweating is reduced. Eyebrows and eyelashes are absent, and the anterior fontanelle is bulging. The tip of the nose is hooked like a bird's beak. There is mild Raynaud's phenomenon in the midface and nasolabial area, thin lips, protruding ear tips and small earlobes, and malnourished nails.

Infants with this disease are often normal during infancy or have only scleroderma-like symptoms. Cyanosis of the midface and a hooked nose often indicate the possibility of this disease. The symptoms become increasingly obvious around the age of 1, until various characteristic manifestations appear in the second year. Patients with this disease generally have no abnormalities in the thyroid, parathyroid, pituitary and adrenal glands. However, the basal metabolic rate increases and blood lipids become abnormal. Patients with progeria may develop atherosclerosis. They often die at an early age due to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

Normal-appearing skin generally has no pathological changes. The pathological changes of scleroderma-like skin are epidermal atrophy, sebaceous gland atrophy, normal sweat glands, increased dermis thickness, and connective tissue extending into the subcutaneous tissue.