Agonising Pain: 59-Year Old Woman With The 'Biggest Hands In The World'

A Thai woman is thought to have the world's biggest hands - weighing almost one-and-a-half stone each. For more than 50 years, shop owner Duangjay Samaksamam, from Surin Province, Thailand, has suffered from an extremely rare and painful affliction that leaves her limbs permanently swollen. Experts believe the
59-year-old is the only person in the world to suffer the rare condition macrodystrophia lipomastosa from shoulder to fingers on both arms.

It causes vast build-up of fat deposits to be distributed across her arms and hands. Moving can be very uncomfortable and even the simplest tasks, such as washing and combing her hair, are extremely difficult for Duangjay. Embarrassed by her condition throughout her childhood, she spent the first 20 years of her life as a recluse ashamed of the way she looked, meaning she never went to school.

But she was forced to come out of hiding at the age of 20 to earn a living in order to care for her elderly parents, and take over running the family grocery shop. Duangjay has caught the attention of medics all over the world and many have attempted surgery to decrease the swelling but, to date, none have succeeded.

She said: 'My hands are so heavy I can barely lift them to comb or shampoo my hair, it's very difficult. Getting dressed is also very difficult and painful. 'Some doctors said the only solution was to cut off my hands if I wished to walk around freely. But I don't want to do that.' 

Growing up she struggled to come to terms with her oversized hands - for which there is no cure - and spent most of childhood avoiding people, skipping school and hiding in the family home. 'My mum told me that I was like this since I was born. I became afraid to go out or go to school, so I never learned to read,' she said.

Raised in a rural village in Thailand, there were no medical experts who could provide treatment and Duangjay was so self-conscious that she refused to go out in public. But when her parents became elderly and unable to work, she had no choice but stop being a recluse and take over the family business.

Photo Credit: DailyMail UK