WARNING: Contains graphic images
YouTubeWeird things happen to us all during puberty, from the mood swings and patches of sporadic hair, but for this child puberty was particularly unusual.
The unnamed boy from India turned 14 and, along with the testosterone influx, started to grow a tail.
The boy noticed the growth just after his fourteenth birthday, and in the subsequent four years reached the alarming length of eight inches, which could be the longest recorded in history.
YouTubeThe growth itself was relatively harmless but due to the discomfort and insecurities the growth has been causing the boy, he finally decided to get it surgically removed.
Doctors are unsure why the growth has grown – and in such an animalistic position on the young boy’s body – and plan to investigate further in medical journals.
They believe the ‘tail’ could have developed in the womb but only materialised outside of the boy’s body when he reached anatomical maturity.
YouTubeA team of neurosurgeons has successfully removed the tail, in a complicated operation that involved manoeuvres around the spinal chord.
Dr Pramod Giri said:
Though the family knew about this unusual growth, they did not see a doctor due to the social stigma and superstition attached to it.
Generally, the defect is detected very early as it is present from birth and since it grows with age it cannot remain undetected.
But the parents as well as the child hid the fact all these years. The defect can be surgically corrected within few months of birth.
When the size of the ‘tail’ grew and a bone developed inside it, the ‘tail’ began to press on the boy’s back. It was cosmetically and psychologically disturbing for him. Hence the parents approached us
YouTubeHe and his family have chosen to remain anonymous to dispel any negative stigma associated with unusual growths.
This isn’t the first time an unusual growth has occurred on a young boy in India.
Last year, the story of a boy (pictured below) with a long growth on his back went viral when it was revealed that villagers from his hometown worshipped the 13-year-old.
YouTubeClearly the boy with the eight-inch tail wasn’t interested in becoming a deity, and understandably, chose to live without the growth.
We wish him a speedy recovery.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.