48-year-old Nguyen Van S from Ninh Binh Province was diagnosed with the syndrome nearly 10 years ago. His family members said since he was only 10 years old, his limbs had already shown strange symptoms. 

48-year-old Nguyen Van S from Ninh Binh Province was diagnosed with the treeman syndrome nearly 10 years ago.

At first, there were warts on his limbs but they spread and looked more like the tree bark day by day. The scaly macules peeled off on their own, causing him great pain. He also can't walk or hold any items.

According to the doctors at the National Hospital of Dermatology, another treeman case had been registered in 2006 when a 20-year-old patient came to them for treatment.

Epidermodysplasia verruciformis or treeman syndrome is an extremely rare autosomal recessive hereditary skin disorder with a high risk of skin cancer. It was caused by human papillomaviruses (HPVs) that damage the immune system.

Dr Do Thi Thu Hien said there was no official statistics about the incidence of the disease but a report in 2007 showed that there were only 500 cases reported in the world. No curative treatment for this disease has been found yet. The patients can take laser treatment or be operated to deal with the macules. However, they will quickly grow back.

The patients must constantly apply medicines on their skin but the effectiveness of the treatment is very low. Dtinews

First 'tree man' in Vietnam

Nguyen Van Son was dubbed the first ‘tree man’ in Vietnam due to his incurable disease of warts covering both his hands and feet.