What caused this woman’s ‘doble kara’ facial feature?
A woman shared that she always ends up getting ghosted by her chatmates once they meet in person.
In a Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho episode on Sunday, Charene shared that half of her face appears deformed. She thinks that it might be due to an accident she had when she was younger.
“Mahina din pandinig ko. Hirap po ako kumain (I have trouble hearing. I have a hard time eating),” Charene said.
“Nasasaktan din ako dahil ganito ako tapos ang ibang mga kapatid ko — naiinggit ako dahil sila, nagugustuhan sila agad ako hindi (I get hurt because I look like this, while my siblings look normal. I get jealous because people like them).”
She also stopped going to school after she experienced bullying from her classmates. They would often tease her that she was slapped by an engkanto or her face was run over by a steamroller.
"Yumuyuko rin ako minsan. Tumatahimik na lang ako para hindi na lumaki. Nu'ng bata pa ako, tinatakpan ko ang aking mukha kapag umaalis kami. Paglaki ko, hindi ko na ikinakahiya sa mga tao. Pinapakita ko na lang na ganito ako."
["I lower my head sometimes. I just go quiet so the fights don’t become worse. When I was younger, I would cover my face whenever we’d go out. I would hide myself. But now that I'm older, I'm not as embarrassed anymore. I now show my face and who I really am."]
Charene didn't finish school, but she became the breadwinner of her family, after her father died and her mother suffered from stroke.
She currently works as a household helper, but Charene said she really wants to finish her studies.
“Marami akong pangarap na makapagtrabaho ako para sa aking pamilya. Gusto ko magtrabaho sa abroad, maging nars. Marami pa akong pangarap” Charene said.
(I have dreams. I want to be a nurse so I can help my family.)
Above everything else though, Charene dreams of having her face fixed.According to plastic surgeon Dr. George Bryan Ferrer, Charene’s accident when she was a child had nothing to do with what happened with her face. Rather, her condition was called Progressive Hemifacial Atrophy or Romberg Disease.
The disease, said Dr. Ferrer, isn’t fatal but it slowly eats the tissue of the right side of her face. Fortunately, this condition can be solved with reconstructive surgery.
However, Dr. Ferrer said that the operation could cost around P500,000 to P1,000,000.
The KMJS team showed Charene a glimpse of what her face could look like after the operation.
Although Charene continues to wait for her surgery, she never fails to grasp onto hope for a better future. — Kaela Malig/LA, GMA News
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