Five Monsters that Are Probably Just People with Rare Diseases

1. Werewolf Syndrome

Sorry, Jacob Black, but werewolves are not sexy. They are portrayed as vicious predators who sow desolation during a full moon.

But real-life lycanthropes are probably not really shapeshifters. Instead, they could be patients of hypertrichosis, abnormal body hair growth. A patient's body, including their face, is often covered completely with thick and long hair, giving a wolf-like appearance. This is why its nickname is very fitting: werewolf syndrome.

Hypertrichosis is normally a genetic mutation. However, it can be acquired as a side effect of anti-balding treatment.

There is no cure for this condition, but traditional hair removal techniques like waxing can provide short-term relief.

2. Vampire Syndrome

Vampires are also not sexy, so sit down, Edward Cullens. Like their nemesis, werewolves, vampires are evil mythological beings that prey on people to feast on their blood.

The most notable behavior of vampires is they prey only at night. That's their skin burns under the sun -- which is pretty similar to a very rare condition known as xeroderma pigmentosum or vampire syndrome.

Staying under the sun for too long is detrimental to the skin of every person in the world. However, normal people have enzymes that repair the DNA that UV rays damage. Patients of vampire syndrome do not have a functioning repairing agent. As a result, their skin burns under the sun and the damage accumulates, just like vampires.

There are some treatments available, but the best option is completely staying out of the sun.

3. Walking Corpse Syndrome

Thankfully, no one is sexualizing zombies yet. Maybe because we are still pissed off on the death of Andrea or that bad-ass Korean dad in Train to Busan.

Like the previous two, there is also a rare condition that looks similar to zombies: Conrad's delusion, a rare mental disorder in which a person has an "unshakable belief that one has lost organs... or is dead".

Patients often refuse to eat, take a bath, and often say that they want to be around the dead, usually on a cemetery or a morgue.

Some medications seem to work, but some patients recovered through electroconvulsive therapy.

4. Tree Man Syndrome

Patients who suffered from Epidermodysplasia verruciformis or Tree Man Syndrome have warts on their bodies that look like tree bark. Those warts also worsen when exposed to sunlight, and can be malignant later in life.

This condition is actually a mutation of the EVER1/EVER2 genes -- a gene which functions are still not fully understood. It is also still not curable.

5. Alien Hand Syndrome

Imagine your left hand suddenly stroking your own hair on its own, and no amount of brain power can stop it. That is the case of an elderly woman who suffered from Alien Hand Syndrome.

This condition is a rare side effect of brain injuries, including stroke. It is characterized by the left hand doing contrary to what the brain wants or sometimes, moving as if an external force is controlling it. There are some reported cases that left hand even suffocate the patients

It is currently untreatable, but it can be managed through therapy.

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