March 7 (UPI) — An 18-year-old from India was awarded the Guinness World Record for the hairiest face on a person when officials determined he had 201.72 hairs per square centimeter of skin.
Lalit Patidar earned the male version of the record after living with a rare hair growth condition called hypertrichosis, which is also known as “werewolf syndrome.” The condition is believed to only occur in one out of a billion people, with only about 50 documented cases since the Middle Ages.
Patidar has hair on over 90% of his face, and has since he was a child.
He told Guinness World Records that other children at school “were scared of me but when they started knowing me and talking to me they understood I was not so different from them, and it was just on the outside that I looked different, but I’m not different inside.”
He said people still sometimes tell him he should have the hair removed from his face.
“There is not much to say to people about that. I tell them that I like how I am and I don’t want to change my look,” Patidar said.
Patidar, who chronicles his day-to-day life on YouTube, said he was proud to earn the world record.
“I am speechless, I don’t know what to say because I’m very happy to get this recognition,” he said.