驚！因海鮮過敏越年輕女子一夜變老嫗
These pictures may look like an attractive woman in her 20s and her grandmother. But they are said to be the same person – apparently taken just days apart.
這張照片看起來是一個20多歲的美女和她的外婆站在一起，真相是：這兩個人是同一個人，而且這張照片的拍攝時間僅僅相隔幾天！
The young Vietnamese woman at the centre of the improbable medical case, Nguyen Thi Phuong, claims the transformation may have come about because of an extreme allergy to seafood.
越南女子阮蒔芳因對海鮮極度過敏而患上了一種怪病，幾天之內從美女變成了老太婆。
Nguyen, 26, says she developed this puffy face and sagging skin in 2008 but was too poor to seek treatment. Earlier this month, doctors said they would examine her free of charge.
現年26歲的阮蒔芳說，她從2008年起皮膚開始變得腫脹鬆弛。但出於家境貧寒而無錢醫治。本月初，醫生表示可以免費爲她治療。
Mrs Nguyen believes her condition was caused by a life-long allergy to seafood in 2008. She took some medicine bought at a local pharmacy instead of going to the hospital because her and her husband were too poor to afford it. She said: 'After one month of taking the drugs, I became less itchy but hives remained on my skin.
阮蒔芳認爲怪病源於2008年的一次海鮮過敏。當時，出於貧窮，她沒有選擇就醫，而是去當地的藥房買了點藥。服藥一個月後，瘙癢症狀減輕，但是她的臉上卻留下了蕁麻疹的痕跡。
'Then I switched to traditional medicine and all the hives disappeared, together with my itching. However, my skin began to sag and fold.' Mrs Nguyen then took another kind of traditional medicine to treat her rapid-aging skin problem - but to no avail.
“後來我換了一種傳統藥物來吃，所有的蕁麻疹都消失了，也不感覺瘙癢了。但是，我的皮膚開始變得鬆弛，還出現了皺紋。” 阮蒔芳又接着換其他的傳統藥物來吃，肌膚迅速老化的問題卻沒有得到解決。
'The skin on my face, chest and belly have folds like an old woman who has given birth several times although I have never had a child. But the rapid-aging syndrome hasn't affected my menstrual cycle, hair, teeth, eyes and mind.'
我臉部、胸部和腹部的皮膚都已經皺了起來，好像那些生過很多孩子的老年婦女那樣，而我到現在還沒生過孩子。這種迅速衰老的症狀沒有影響我的月經週期，我的頭髮、牙齒、眼睛以及思維也都正常。
Doctors say it may have been the long-term use of traditional medicines that caused the condition as they are often spiked with corticoids. These steroids speed up the effects of the unregulated remedies but could also have triggered the rare skin disease mastocytosis, where the body produces too many mast cells.
醫生們認爲，這可能是長期服用傳統藥物引起的疾病。因爲傳統藥物中經常含有腎上腺皮質類脂醇，這些類固醇可以提高藥效，也可能引發罕見的皮膚疾病，肥大細胞增多症，即身體制造出過多的肥大細胞。
Nguyen’s husband, carpenter Thanh Tuyen, insists the story is true and his love has not faded for his once-beautiful wife.
阮蒔芳的丈夫是位木工，他堅稱妻子的故事屬實，並說不會因爲妻子的美貌逝去而改變對妻子的愛。
