Plastic surgery rescues man with ‘devil’s horn’ on head in MP

Bhopal: A 74-year-old man in a Madhya Pradesh village had grown a 4 inch-long ‘Devil’s Horn’ on his head following a skull injury.

Doctors in a specialized hospital in district headquarters of Sagar in MP had removed the hardened lump — a rare cutaneous horn — sprouted on the skull of Shyamlal Yadav, a farmer of Patna Bujurg village under Rahli panchayat in Sagar district, in a surgery.

Shyamlal suffered a head injury five years ago leading to the benign growth on his head, called in medical terms as ‘Sebacious Horn’ condition, Vishal Gajbhiye, a surgeon in the Bhagyodyoya Tirth Hospital where the septuagenarian had undergone the surgery, said.

“It is a rare disease called Sebacious Horn. The unusual growth is made of keratin, found in toenails and human hair”, Dr Gajbhiye said.

After removing the horn in a plastic surgery the doctor said such conditions may develop for two reasons. The Sebacious Horn condition occurs in sun-exposed areas of skin. It may also develop when secretion of gland at the root of human hair stops leading to formation of Sebacious cyst. Dr Gajbhiye said the case will be referred to the International Journal of Surgery as rarest of rare.