'snake' children branded witches by frightened locals because of their skin condition

Teenager Sayali Kapese reveals the heartbreaking condition which has left her and her brother with snake-like skin that sheds every 10 days.

Sayali, 13, and Siddhant, 11, have been segregated at school and branded witches and ghosts by locals frightened by their appearance.

Their parents apply moisture three times a day while drugs offer only slight relief.

The children’s bones are weakening and their sight is deteriorating. There is no cure.

Yet the emotional suffering is often as difficult to bear as the physical pain.

Sayali said: “I’m disgusted when I see myself in the mirror. I wonder why God made my brother and me this way. I aspire to be an accountant but I wonder if anyone would offer me a job with this condition.”

Cover Asia Press

There is no cure for the skin condition

A mutated gene carried by both mother Sarika and father Santosh left the children with crippling Lamellar Ichthyosis.

They were born covered in a syrup-like membrane that sheds to leave scaling beneath. Yet the parents and their third child, daughter Manasvi, nine months, are unaffected.