Health and Medicine
PUBLISHED
Doctors have been left searching for an answer after a woman in India has developed extremely painful “horns” on the top of her head. The 60-year-old woman developed this condition around three years ago and is now awaiting a senior doctor consultation, though doctors have warned that the condition may be "beyond their understanding", according to reports.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The woman is said to be in “unbearable pain” and has now asked the Indian government for help in paying for treatment, which is likely to involve surgery.
While no expert has been able to provide an opinion on it so far, reports state that a local doctor believes it could be a “siliceous horn”, though there is no verification to back up this idea so far.
Previous cases of human horns are extremely rare but are generally diagnosed as a cutaneous horn, which are benign or malignant keratinous horns that grow in a conical shape. Such horns are thought to be a result of exposure to radiation or the HPV virus following a cut on the head, though it is unclear why they form due to their extreme rarity. A cutaneous horn is treatable by surgery.
“Something like a horn has been coming out of her head for the last three years, which causes her unbearable pain. Many times she has shown it to the doctors, but this disease is beyond the understanding of the doctors here,” relatives of Mimiya Bai Kori told local media site New Indian.
“The doctors here have advised us to visit top specialists in the city, but we are unable to do it because of financial compulsions.”
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