Odisha ‘werewolf’ boy undergoes surgery

BHUBANESWAR: We tried to restore his physiological functions through plastic surgery so that he can see better, respire normally.

DR RP DAS, Professor of plastic surgery of MKCG Medical College and Hospital.

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A 5-year-old boy with rare congenital disease that has led to hairy, dark patches of skin cover parts of his face, arms, legs and torso, underwent surgery to remove the fleshy dark patches on his face that were obstructing breathing at an Odisha government hospital.

Kanha Naik from Gayaganda village in chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s home district of Ganjam was born with Giant Congenital Melanocytic Hairy Nevus (GCMHN).

A team of 15 doctors who operated on him at Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur town for over four hours to remove the thickened patches obstructing his mouth, nose, eyes, ears and back.

“We tried to restore his physiological functions through plastic surgery so that he can see better and respire normally. Kanha had also developed tumour in his sensory nerves, which we managed to correct,” said Dr Rajendra Prasad Das, professor of plastic surgery of MKCG Medical College and Hospital.

The team operated on the right side of his face and would operate on left after three months.

Kanha is recuperating in an ICU after surgery, which has been funded by the state government.

Dr Das said the operation was not a cosmetic correction.

“It is very difficult to get skin for grafting from his body and we arranged skin for today’s operation with a lot of difficulty,” said Dr Das, who led a six-member surgical team.

Popularly called the ‘Werewolf Syndrome’ because of the large hairy growths on the body and face, GCMHN is very rare, with one case occurring in every 200,000-500,000 births.

It is characterised by large hairy and fleshy patches, measuring more than 20 cm at times.

“The patches may be small in infants, but they usually grow at the same rate the body grows. These patches, at times thickened and raised, can appear anywhere on the body, but are more often found on the trunk or limbs. The colour ranges from tan to black, which can become darker or lighter over time,” said additional professor of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, Dr Manoj Kumar Mohanty.

Kanha’s father Ramachandra Nayak said he was optimistic about Kanha’s recovery.

“When he was born, the doctor had suggested for operation, but we didn’t agree as he was a young. But now it has grown so much that it has started affecting his day-to-day activities,” said Ramachandra Nayak, who has two daughters apart from his son.