Werner’s syndrome (WS) is a very rare autosomal recessive disease that will cause premature aging for both men and women, where symptoms may start showing up during or after puberty and will continue on through their entire lifetime.1 This being said, there is a great disproportion between a patient’s real age and the perceived appearance age. A patient that is diagnosed with WS will age progressively faster than its peers, and the median lifespan is around 54 years of age.2 Another name for this condition is “adult progeria”3 or “adult-onset progeria4”. The first case of WS was studied by a man named Otto Werner in 19045, after which only approximately 1,500 new cases have been discovered up until 2011.4 As of now, there is still no cure for
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They face challenges of all sorts when having a change to their own self-identity. First of all, sometimes, this disease may not be diagnosed until too late, which means the symptoms will vary, but they may be more severe.16 Coping with more than one disease can be a struggle, as one is progressively labelled as sick or diseased. They will endure more treatments, more visits to the hospital, and more income going towards medical bills. They perhaps might have a problem in really identifying themselves as one age because they do not look the part. As mentioned before, this disease is very rare, so depending on where the patient might live, they might feel awkward and not accepted by society. A person who is Japanese, yet lives in Japan may be accustomed to this disease because it is far more popular there than anywhere else in the world11, but that may not be the case for everyone. For gender issues, someone with this disorder may have a lower self-esteem based on how they look and how they are perceived by others. For example, many women care a lot about their hair and someone with WS might either have grey hair or may be bald at a young age of approximately 25 years old. Another issue with this disease is perhaps how much puberty they went through or did not go through, as they do have lower hormonal rates coursing through the body. This possibly may create self-questioning about their bodies and appearance thinking they’re not feminine or masculine
They face challenges of all sorts when having a change to their own self-identity. First of all, sometimes, this disease may not be diagnosed until too late, which means the symptoms will vary, but they may be more severe.16 Coping with more than one disease can be a struggle, as one is progressively labelled as sick or diseased. They will endure more treatments, more visits to the hospital, and more income going towards medical bills. They perhaps might have a problem in really identifying themselves as one age because they do not look the part. As mentioned before, this disease is very rare, so depending on where the patient might live, they might feel awkward and not accepted by society. A person who is Japanese, yet lives in Japan may be accustomed to this disease because it is far more popular there than anywhere else in the world11, but that may not be the case for everyone. For gender issues, someone with this disorder may have a lower self-esteem based on how they look and how they are perceived by others. For example, many women care a lot about their hair and someone with WS might either have grey hair or may be bald at a young age of approximately 25 years old. Another issue with this disease is perhaps how much puberty they went through or did not go through, as they do have lower hormonal rates coursing through the body. This possibly may create self-questioning about their bodies and appearance thinking they’re not feminine or masculine