Sultan Kosen, the world's tallest man, has stopped growing at 8 ft
3in
17 Mar, BELLE NEWS
Sultan Kosen, the world's tallest man, may have finally stopped
growing at a towering 8ft 3ins (251.4 cm) thanks to a pioneering new
treatment.
Turkish farmer Sultan Kosen, 29, suffers from the rare disorder
acromegaly which causes his body to continually produce the growth
hormone.
Sultan Kosen's condition was thought to have been caused by a tumor
in the pituitary gland which is located in bottom of the hypothalamus at
the base of the brain.
Doctors though they had cured him in 2008 when they removed the tumor
but he continued to grow at a rate of half of inch a year. However,
researchers at the University of Virginia Medical Center, who have
developed a new treatment after he visited in 2010, say Sultan Kosen has
finally stopped growing.
Sultan Kosen's hands measure 10.8 in across and his feet are 13.7 in
long - which are also world records. The man, who wears size 28 shoes,
is one of only ten people ever to top 8 ft and the first in a decade.
Sultan Kosen grew normally until he was ten but the tumor then caused
him to develop the medical condition. When other children were little
more than 4 ft, he was already well over 6 ft. "The kids used to tease
me and I found that very difficult," Sultan Kosen said on a trip to the
UK in 2010.
"But now I am really proud of being tall." |