Indian woman with distorted face which hides her faces and nose

Khadija Khatoon with huge growths that hide her eyes and nose says she is ''happy to be made this way''

''I'm made this way and I accept it graciously,'' the 21-year-Old Indian woman who lives with her parents and has never gone to school told Daily Mail, '' I do what I can. If this is how I’m meant to be then I live with it. It’s not a matter of coping, I just live as I am.''

Khadija was born at her home, in Kolkata, West Bengal, Eastern India, to impoverished Muslim parents, is thought to have neurofibromatosis, leaving her with severe deformities.

Neurofibromatosis is the name of a number of genetic conditions that cause tumours to grow along the nerves.

Tumours are swellings formed by a growth of cells.

In most sufferers, their tumours are usually non-cancerous.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 is the most common form of the rare condition, affecting around one in 3,000 births.

Sufferers are born with NF1, although symptoms often develop over a number of years.

The severity varies considerably from person to person.

In most cases it causes:

pale, coffee-coloured patches with smooth outlines, known as cafe au lait spots

soft, non-cancerous lumps on or under the skin

Around one in three people also develop a range of further health problems:

high blood pressure
a curved spine
learning difficulties and behavioural problems
a type of cancer known as malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours, which affect around 10 per cent of those with NF1

The condition is caused by a genetic mutation, where instructions that are carried in all living cells are scrambled in some way.

There is currently no cure for the illness, instead patients are regularly monitored.

Treatment can include surgery to remove tumours.

Source: NHS Choices