VietNamNet Bridge – Her facial skin was itching and swelling so Thach Thi Tha Ri, 29, of Bac Lieu City went to a drugstore to purchase cream to apply to her face. After using the 7th phial, her skin became lumpy and she looked much older.

Thach Tha Ri (before) ...

.... and after the incident.

She said she had never been allergic before, and no one in her family had similar aging symptoms.

According to Ri, at the 5th month of pregnancy, rashes began appearing on her body and especially her face. She did not see doctors but went to a nearby drug store to buy medicine.

The drug seller said that she was allergic so suggested an ointment called Morcina, priced VND12,000/phial ($0.5).

"I said that I was pregnant so they gave her this ointment. They told me to apply it on the skin. The first few days when I used it I did not feel itching anymore. I thought that the drug is good so I bought several phials," Ri said.

However, when she used the 7th phial, the skin got lumpy, thick and greasy..

"Believing in the drug seller’s advice, I just tried to apply more ointment on my face and my face increasingly disfigured. I asked them why and they told me that it is because I was pregnant,” Ri said.

"At first when Ri’s face was deformed, I did not recognize her. Once I called her grandmother since I thought that she was someone, an old lady. She was disfigured too fast. A month ago, Ri was one of the pretty young women in the area," a neighbor said.

Ri delivered her baby one month ago. Her family’s most valuable assets are two pigs, so she does not have money to treat the face.

Ri’s husband, Ha Van Huy, 32, said that her wife got older very quickly. "Many nights I woke up, I thought I was lying next to someone not my wife," Huy said.

Dr. Tran Thanh Long, Director of the Center of Social Diseases Prevention of Bac Lieu, said Ri had folliculitis after using medications containing corticosteroids. As Ri was breastfeeding her baby, the doctor prescribed some ointments to deal with symptoms of folliculitis. He said when the baby is a little older, Ri will be examined with modern machinery.

M. Tuan