Girl with ‘tree man’ disease undergoes 1st surgery

DMCH Burn Unit Chairman Abul Kalam Azad said they started the surgery around 12:30pm and ended at 2pm Tuesday. “She is diagnosed with early tree man syndrome. We will need to go with more surgeries on her,” he added. Shahana’s father Md Shahjahan Mia said that her daughter was under observation at the hospital. He also hoped that Shahana would get better soon. Shahana was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital's Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit on January 29. “Since her birth, something that looked like a tree root started sprouting out her face and it has been getting bigger ever since,” Shahana’s father said. The only other Bangladeshi known to have been diagnosed with 'tree man' is Abul Bajandar. He has made remarkable progress after 16 successful surgeries at DMCH. Doctors say if the warts do not grow back, Bajandar would be the first person ever to recover from the disease.