Lalit Patidar is an 18-year-old boy from India with an extremely rare syndrome.
How rare, you ask?
Well, approximately 1 in a BILLION people have it. 🤯
This condition is called hypertrichosis, also known as werewolf syndrome, which causes an unusual amount of hair to grow.
In Lalit’s case, almost his entire face is covered in hair – and with 201.72 hairs per square centimetre, he holds the world record for hairiest face on a person (male).
Lalit is 1 of only around 50 known people in the entire world to have this syndrome since the beginning of time, so…
You could definitely say he’s a special guy. 😎
But as you can imagine, being different is not always easy.
Lalit has been really brave, even when people looked at him in surprising ways or said unkind things.
When he started school, some of the other kids weren’t sure what to think and felt a little nervous at first.
He told us: “They 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.”
Despite the difficulties, Lalit feels proud of who he is and loves the special thing that makes him different.
In the picture below, you can see his hair being measured to get his world record title approved:
So how did he get the record title? 🤔
He recently flew to Milan, Italy, to appear on our television show Lo Show dei Record, having the hair on his face measured.
He visited a local hair doctor who reviewed him by shaving tiny parts of his face to take accurate measurements of his hairs.
What, did you think breaking a world record was easy? 😉
While being super happy about his achievement, Lalit tells us that some people often tell him he should remove his hair.
“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.”
Confidence is everything. 💪
He has a family that loves and supports him, and dreams of seeing the world and experiencing other cultures.
We hope all your dreams come true, Lalit.
In the meantime, welcome to the Guinness World Records family! ❤️
