Camy World: man with no face

Mohammad Latif Khatana was born in 1980, in Kashmir, India as a beautiful, healthy baby. The only unusual thing about him was a small lump on his face. Over the years, the insignificant lump continued to grow and form huge flaps and creases across all over his face, eventually impairing his vision and turning him into a monster for the rest of the people who consider themselves normal… Mohammad Latif Khatana is the youngest of his family and he has two brothers and three sisters, who do not suffer from the same condition as he does.

Over the ears, Mohammad got the nickname of “the man with no face” because he currently looks worse than a shar-pei… The folds in his face took his eyesight, and his capacity to provide from himself and his family. He declared that his mother still cries every time she sees him, and does not understand why her youngest child has to suffer from such a horrible curse.

But what is the cause of this terrifying, strange disease? The man with no face suffers from an infection with a strand of the human papillomavirus. Norrmally, our defense system is more than capable to fight of this virus, but unfortunately, Mohammad’s organism suffers from a rare genetic disorder that left him unable to fight off the infection. Below you can see a picture of the culprit virus.

Growing up was harsh on the poor child due to the fact that some people are simply incapable of accepting that looks aren’t everything, and it’s the character of the person that should count. Hence, Mohammad, who sadly lost his left eye when he was 8 years old, and everyone used to pick on him and call him a “one-eye freak”. And if you’re thinking to yourself that kids are normally mean, we’re gonna tell you that adults are even worse.

As an adult, the man with no face struggles with discrimination, and he even declared that:

I’d love to do an honest day’s work like a normal man providing for his family. It would make me so proud, but no one will give me a chance. I have to beg and hope people take pity on me so that I can feed my family.

Sadly, when people pass him by indifferently it’s a firtuate event, because most people spit on him as they walk by… (very mature of them…):

“Three young girls walked past me once and they spat at my feet and ran away with scarves covering their mouths. I was so embarrassed. “I was shocked at how cruel they were. I felt very depressed for days. But I had to pick myself up and get on with it.”

You might think that a man such as Mohammad Latif Khatana is very lonely, and you’d mostly be right… but luckily, four years ago, the man with no face met the man of his life, Salima. You can imagine how hard it was for his parents to find a wife for him, but Salima was perfect. She was born with a missing leg. Practically, they believe they were born incomplete just to find each other and be complete as one. They married in a traditional Muslim summer ceremony with 400 guests, in August 2008, and have been very happy ever since.

Latif, now lives hidden from plain eyes, high in the mountains with his 25-year-old wife Salima, in Tuli Bana, in Jammu and Kashmir. Due to his disability, Mohammad is forced to travel to Srinagar over a period of four months in order to beg and provide money for his family. And by family, we don’t just mean his wife, we also mean a yet unborn son. Salima is seven months pregnant with their first child, but they both fear the worst:

I feel a little normal now I have a wife, a little more complete than I did before. And now that she is pregnant with our first child I am even happier. No matter how I look I am a happy man right now… I cannot wait to be a father and have some happiness in my life. But I worry every day and pray my child is not born like me

You may be wondering why Mohammad hasn’t seen a doctor for his condition… well he did. Eight years ago, one of his brothers sold a piece of land to fund Mahammad’s trip to a doctor, but sadly, the doctor said that nothing can be done.

“And now there is so many veins going through my creases that surgery would be too dangerous. I have lost all hope of help. This is how I’ll look forever.”

See more pictures of the man with no face below: