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Zara Hartshorn was born with a genetic condition, lipodystrophy, that she had inherited from her mother. Lipodystrophy affects the way that fat is distributed around the body.
For Zara, the condition began to become more noticeable once she turned 12. Her condition made her take on an elderly appearance. Strangers on the street constantly assumed she was actually in her 40s or even her 50s because of her skin.
Zara, of course, hated the way she looked.
Over the course of the next four years, when she turned 16, she tried to find various ways to reduce the appearance of her saggy skin and evade the taunts from her peers on the schoolground. They would laugh at her and call her “granny” or even “monkey” because of the way her skin fell across her face.
Finally, Zara decided that she would travel to the United States to visit Dr. Abu Garg, an expert on lipodystrophy, whom she hoped would be able to provide her with some relief.
Instead, he gave her – and her mother – terrible news.
Neither of the women were actually suffering from lipodystrophy. They had an even more severe disease called cutis lax.
Cutis laxa is a disorder that affects a person’s connective tissues, causing the skin to sag and hang in loose folds all over the body. This ultimately makes the patient look years older than they actually are. The disorder can, however, also affect the organs inside the body.
Without proper treatment, the condition can cause heart problems by narrowing, bulging, or tearing of critical arteries in the area.
Zara and her mother were both stunned. Neither one of them had ever realized they were suffering from a potentially fatal disease and weren’t sure how to move forward from there.
In the face of this diagnosis, Zara seemed to ignore the doctor’s warnings and turned instead to find a plastic surgeon in the States who would be able to help her improve her appearance by performing a four-hour facelift on her sagging skin.
Her mother, Tracey, soon followed suit, but over the course of the next four years, the results of both women’s surgeries began to disappear. Their skin gradually began to sag again, until they had reverted from looking their age, to once again looking decades older.
While Tracey viewed this as a warning of her failure to properly tend to her health over the years, 20-year-old Zara kept blowing it off. She was more upset about the fact that she looked elderly again and had no inclination to actually look into her health because of her disappointment.
When she’d returned to the UK after the procedure, “Life was completely different. It was amazing.” She added, “I had so much confidence, got into a relationship. I got pregnant and I was happy.”
But now that everything has fallen apart – Zara had a miscarriage and broke up with her boyfriend, on top of the effects of her surgery vanishing – she’s realizing that she can’t just ignore her health anymore.
"Since I found out I had Cutis Laxa, I have literally done nothing about it. The last time I saw a doctor was in Texas, which isn't good,” she explained. "My health does worry me, but only when I think about it. Most of the time I'm oblivious to it, which isn't a good thing."
Although Zara is still upset about her saggy skin and face at just 20 years old, she’s mustered up the courage to return to the doctor to seek further medical help with her cutis laxa.
Dr. Zsolt Urban, a doctor who has been studying the disease for quite some time, performed a heart scan on the teen.
Much to Zara – and her mother’s relief – Zara’s heart seems to be fine, and she couldn’t be more relieved to know that she’s not going to suffer from an untimely death.
Now, Zara is determined to use her unique position to spread awareness about this condition. She said, “I would like to inspire and try to help and reach out to those people that are scared to come forward and admit to the world that they have got this illness.”
You can watch a news feature of her here:
