Duangjay Samaksamam could have the biggest hands in the world [BARCROFT]
Duangjay Samaksamam, 59, has spent the past 50 years living with an extremely rare and painful condition that has left her limbs permanently swollen.
Her affliction means that moving can be agonising and even the simplest of tasks, such as combing her hair, can prove extremely difficult.
"My hands are so heavy I can barely lift them to comb or shampoo my hair, it's very difficult," she said.
"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."
Ms Samaksamam, from Thailand's Surin Province, was raised in a rural village where there were no medical experts to help her.
Ashamed by her gigantic limbs, she spent the first 20 years of her life as a recluse because she could not face going out in public.
This meant that she never went to school and never married.
She was eventually forced to come out of hiding at the age of 20 to help provide for her elderly parents - who could no longer work - by taking over the family grocery shop.
Her rare condition has left her with incredibly swollen hands [BARCROFT]
"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.
As news spread about her oversized hands, she started undergoing operations at the age of 25 to try and reduce the swelling.
Unfortunately, the surgery just made her condition worse.
Ms Samaksamam, who now lives with her sister and her niece, said: "During the surgery they didn't remove any tissue, just opened it up, opened up my arm to check it.
"They said it wasn't bad tissue just really thick fat in there, but they didn't remove anything for fear of damaging the nerves.
"After five months my wrists began to hurt.
"I felt so much pain. I couldn't sleep.
"If I held something it would fall out of my hands because I couldn't feel them."
Two further operations later, and she was left in a crippling condition.
Even the smallest of tasks can prove difficult for Ms Samaksamam [BARCROFT]
"They removed about 700 grams of fat and blood out of my hands but after a month it just grew back."
Several months after, Ms Samaksamam's baffling condition was finally diagnosed by a doctor from Kiatsato University in Japan.
He flew her to see him and after a few MRI scans, discovered that she was suffering from Macrodystrophia Lipomastosa - an affliction which caused vast amounts of fat deposits to be distributed across her arms and hands.
Plastic surgeon Dr Eiju Uchinuma said: "This case is very rare.
"Both her arms are enlarged.
"Her arms and hands are enormous so they swell badly but it could be worse.
"My diagnosis is that she is the first and only person in the world who has Macrodystrophia Lipomatosa from shoulders to her fingers on both arms.
"The cause of the disease is unknown and is therefore incurable."
Ms Samaksamam's story appears in a new series of Body Bizarre.
Taken from 
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