Tree-like growth on man's hands and feet spreads to other parts of his body

A man who suffers a rare condition that makes him produce bark-like growths on his body has gotten worse as the growth has spread from his hands and feet to other parts of his body. Abul Bajandar, a father-of-one from Bangladesh, was operated upon and doctors thought they had got his disease under control. But he had a relapse last year and has now been re-admitted to hospital as the growths have returned and spread to other parts of his body.

Mr Bajandar, 28, nicknamed the ‘Tree Man’, said: I made a mistake by leaving the hospital. I sought alternative treatment but could not find any. I now I understand I should have stayed and continued the treatment here. Mr Bajandar has had 25 surgeries in Bangladesh since 2016 to remove the growths from his hands and feet. Plastic surgeon Samanta Lal Sen plans to continue helping him at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Dr Sen said: I requested Bajandar to return as soon as possible. Now we have to start from the very beginning. We’ll have to conduct more surgeries. According to Mirror, the government has been paying Mr Bajandar’s medical treatment after his story received media attention in 2016. He lived in the hospital’s expensive private cabin with his wife and daughter for nearly two years during his first round of treatment.

Mr Bajandar suffers from epidermodysplasia verruciformis (tree-man syndrome), which is so rare that only six other people are known to have it in the world.Dhaka Medical College Hospital also treated a young Bangladeshi girl suffering from the condition in 2017. Doctors declared her surgery a success, but her father later said the growths had returned in even greater numbers, prompting the family to halt treatment and return to their village.