How S'pore woman with rare skin condition deals with unpleasant stares from passersby

Lianhe Zaobao
28 April 2017

She grabbed the attention of the nation when she was born in 1991, due to her marked difference in appearance. Doctors had not expected her to live past her teenage years, but here's Ng Poh Peng, alive and well at 26 years old.

Miss Ng suffers from congenital ichthyosis, an incurable and rare hereditary skin disorder that causes her skin to flake off, leaving her skin underneath pink and wrinkled.

She hardly leaves the house due to her sensitivity to sunlight, but when she does, it's hard not to attract stares and double takes from passers-by. She used to be hurt by the gawking, but now she says, "My parents love me, that's enough."

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"The Newsmaker" (封面人物) is one of 10 SPH-produced short form digital video series as part of a pilot Public Service Broadcast initiative. In this 13-part series, people who have made news headlines in the past share with the host Fred Lai (Content Producer, Chinese Media Group Digital) how the news events changed their lives and how they have been coping since then. All episodes come with English subtitles. 

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