Teen with ‘werewolf syndrome’ has world’s hairiest face with 95% of it covered

A teenager from India has broken a Guinness World Record for the hairiest face on a man.

Lalit Patidar has a rare condition called called hypertrichosis, or ‘werewolf syndrome’, causing him to grow excessive hair.

The 18-year-old, whose face is 95% covered with hair, says there are those who can be unkind to him, but he’s decided to embrace his uniqueness.

Lalit recently travelled from his home in central Madhya Pradesh state to Milan in Italy to have his hair count measured for the TV programme ‘Lo Show dei Record’.

This involved visiting a trichologist who shaved tiny portions of his face to take accurate measurements of his hairs per square cm, according to the Guinness World Records.

It was then revealed he had 201.72 hairs per square cm, officially making him the ‘The Hairiest Face on a Person (Male)’.

‘Lalit is one of only around 50 documented cases [of hypertrichosis] reported worldwide since the Middle Ages, making him one in a billion,’ Guinness World Records said on its website.

The teenager said he was ‘speechless’ and ‘very happy’ to be recognised as a world record holder.

Speaking about people’s attitudes towards him, he added: ‘Most people are good to me. It depends on the person. The first day of school wasn’t so good because the other kids were scared of me, but when they got to know me, they realised I’m not so different from them.’

Some people have encouraged him to shave his facial hair off, but he said he had no plans to follow their advice.

‘I tell them that I like how I am and I don’t want to change my look,’ he explained.