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Sunday, August 12, 2012

Instead of hair … her skin follicles are producing human nails

 A 28-year-old woman is reportedly suffering from an extremely rare skin condition that causes her to grow fingernails all over her body — including her face/scalp — instead of hair.

Shanyna A. Isom, a criminal justice student from Memphis, Tennessee, says she first saw signs of the condition back in 2009, when she had an asthma attack that doctors treated with steroids.

Unfortunately, Shanyna had an allergic reaction to the steroids, which caused her to develop bumbs on her legs, and her skin tone began to darken.

 “Over time it started to turn my legs black with bumps,” Isom told WMC-TV. She said that doctors in Memphis have treated her for everything, from eczema to a staph infection.

“And we know it couldn’t be that after all the medication she had been on,” Shanyna’s Aunt, Jataun Isom said.

“They’ve tested me from A to Z and everything was coming back negative,” Shanyna said.

When Shanyna was admitted to Johns Hopkins in August 2011, doctors there determined that she produces 12 times the number of skin cells per hair follicle, which is suffocating her skin.

Instead of hair … her skin follicles are producing human nails. “Where hair grows, nails are growing,” she said.
After spending some time at Johns Hopkins, Shanyna’s quality of life has improved slightly. “I couldn’t sit up I couldn’t walk,” she said. “Now I can walk with a cane and sometimes I can walk on my own.”
But Shanyna’s mysterious condition has opened up a whole new door of problems. Her state-issued insurance doesn’t cover her specialist care, and covers only five of the 17 medications she needs to treat her symptoms.

“So we had to depend on the family and friends and different fundraisers and things like that to help me get back and forth,” she said, adding that her family has already burned through their savings, and her outstanding medical bills are currently up to $250,000.

“We know that God is a healer and he’s going to bring her through,” Shanyna’s grandmother Carrie Isom said.

“At this point I just do everything I can to get the help that’s needed for her,” said Shanyna’s friend Tolungia Webb.

“I love her and I know that she’s gonna get better,” Karintha Rawls, another friend, said.

Isom, who says she is the only person in the world with her condition, has set up the S.A.I. Foundation to raise money to help cover her bills and to one day help others who may suffer from unknown illnesses.

The S.A.I. Foundation is accepting donations at any Bank of America branch.

“If it means me dealing with this to help someone else, I’m willing to go through it,” Shanyna said.


11 comments:

  1. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH DAMM ITS HORRIBLE HORRIBLE!!!

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  2. There's a 'cure' for people with horrible acne problems by using something known as "accutane", a medicine that should only be used if all else fails. That's because accutane essentially messes with the body's internal chemical balance with a chance of a full reset. For people who've gone through the 6 month or so treatment, they can come out at the end without acne or without critical components of their internal organs.

    Would something like this be a last ditch cure for this woman?

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    Replies
    1. Not at all, unfortunately. Acne and hair production are entirely different matters. This isn't a simple chemical imbalance that could be "reset" (which isn't even what Accutane does at all, all Accutane does is decrease the body's sebaceous oil production, albeit with many potential awful side effects). This is caused by an actual medical condition in which the body physically produces nails instead of hair (both are essentially made of keratin, it's just a matter of how much is created and how it is excreted).

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  3. ^That's it! You've solved it! Call the doctors we have a brilliant physician on the case!

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  4. Her life has completely changed because of one allergic reaction. And who knows how long those medical bills will continue to pile up! I would rather my tax dollars go to helping her, than to killing foreigners. Universal health care will stop cases like hers from happening all over the country. No one should be driven to poverty because of a medical condition.

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  5. God is a healer, huh.. Well he seems to be doing a wonderful job.

    Seriously, I hope the docs can figure that one out. Sounds terrible.

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    Replies
    1. "God" is busy ignoring everything, or not existing. only thing to do is turn to Science and research for a possible cure to this.

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  6. Why is America so against free health care?

    Charity shouldn't be required just to cover someones medical bills.

    NHS MASTER RACE

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  7. I GOT CHILLS FROM READING THIS
    THAT FEEL

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  8. I GOT A BONER FROM READING THAT ARTICLE

    ReplyDelete