• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Man living with rare condition that causes one half of face to shrink shares 'hardest part' about dealing with it

Home> News

Published 15:15 22 Oct 2024 GMT+1

Man living with rare condition that causes one half of face to shrink shares 'hardest part' about dealing with it

Lukas says he was bullied and called 'half face' because of the condition

Lucy Devine

Lucy Devine

A man living with a rare condition that causes half of his face to shrink has shared the 'hardest part' about dealing with it.

Lukas Caldwell, 20, from Nebraska, US, was diagnosed with Parry-Romberg syndrome when he was just seven years old, after his parents noticed discolouration in his face.

Lukas Caldwell has Parry-Romberg syndrome (Instagram/@lukas.caldwell)
Lukas Caldwell has Parry-Romberg syndrome (Instagram/@lukas.caldwell)

Parry-Romberg syndrome is a rare condition characterised by the shrinking of the skin and soft tissues in one half of the face.

Advert

In some very rare cases, both sides can be affected and some sufferers may also have impacted limbs.

The condition is usually diagnosed by the age of 10 and most people will experience symptoms before the age of 20.

The cause of Parry-Romberg syndrome is currently unknown, although some believe it could have genetic factors.

Caldwell - who goes by @lukas.caldwell on TikTok - documents his journey on the social media platform, educating others on the condition and sharing his experience with the syndrome.

Caldwell has spoken about the hardest part (YouTube/Good Morning America)
Caldwell has spoken about the hardest part (YouTube/Good Morning America)

Advert

In an interview with Good Morning America, he explained the most challenging part of having the condition.

"You're treated differently by others based on your appearance whether you like to recognise it or not," he said.

"And that's just caused me to internalise certain beliefs. I have social phobia, I have anxiety and all those types of things.

"And it's not necessarily anyone's fault, it's just kind of how it is.

"The biggest thing what I've gone through is just the gradual change over time is something that's hard to get used to.

Advert

"I look very different at age eight through to 10.

"You would never just get used to how you are, develop like a sense of identity because you are constantly different... treatments, different progression of the disease."

Caldwell after one of his surgeries (Instagram/@lukas.caldwell)
Caldwell after one of his surgeries (Instagram/@lukas.caldwell)

Caldwell - who said he was always bullied as a child and called 'half face' because of his condition - has had multiple surgeries to help reconstruct his face, including on his jaw as well as plastic surgery.

"I couldn't get any reconstructive procedures done until I was 18 because they don't want your face to keep growing," he explained.

Advert

"The biggest thing I want people to take away is that you shouldn't judge others based on their appearance because I just think that's superficial and shallow.

"It just isn't how you should go about interacting with people.

"Something I've come to realise is that everyone knows something you don't. And that's just so valuable."

Featured Image Credit: lukas.caldwell/TikTok

Topics: Health, US News

Lucy Devine
Lucy Devine

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Man with condition so painful it's dubbed 'suicide disease' shares devastating reality about dealing with it
  • Woman born intersex addressed major misconception about condition
  • Putin 'names his condition' to end Ukraine war following face-to-face meet with Trump
  • Bruce Willis' wife shares 'hardest decision' she had to make after his dementia diagnosis

Choose your content:

12 hours ago
14 hours ago
15 hours ago
  • (KLAS)(KLAS)
    12 hours ago

    Horrifying mystery as piles of cremated human remains found in remote desert outside of Las Vegas

    The horrifying scene was discovered around 60 miles south of Las Vegas

    News
  • Bettmann/CORBISBettmann/CORBIS
    14 hours ago

    Sobering true story behind haunting image with four young children 'for sale'

    Those children really were sold off

    News
  • (Instagram/LeandrodeSouzbless)(Instagram/LeandrodeSouzbless)
    14 hours ago

    Man who had tattooed 95% of his body reveals what he looks like after having them removed

    Leandro de Souza previously held the title of Brazil's most tattooed man

    News
  • Getty Stock ImagesGetty Stock Images
    15 hours ago

    Science behind 'rubbing it better' and why it actually works

    The gate control theory of pain is an incredible coping mechanism for the human body

    News