A teenager with an ultra-rare genetic condition that makes him look like an old man has defied doctors to celebrate his 15th birthday

Nihal Bitla, who lives on the outskirts of Mumbai, has Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome - which ages his body eight times faster than normal. The condition leaves him bald, with heavy wrinkles and severely weakened limbs.

The average life expectancy for children with progeria is 14. Many sufferers die from a heart
condition where the arteries become hard and narrow - which usually affects adults over 60. As a result, children with progeria are prone to heart attacks and strokes aged ten or under.

But Nihal blew out the candles on his 15th birthday cake on January 20, making him the oldest living child diagnosed with progeria in India.

And despite the challenges posed by the syndrome, the teenager remains positive about his future.
Nihal said:
'I have never felt that this is a disease, because I'm a special child. This is like a God's gift to me.'
Like most boys his age, he loves playing computer games - and those who know him say he has bright eyes, a caring nature, and a child-like innocence. Even though his body is that of an elderly man, with wrinkled leathery skin, a bald enlarged head and withered limbs.

He weighs 12.5kg - just under two stone - and is under 4 foot (1.2 m) in height.
In the years to come, his mind will remain young, but his body will age and his health will deteriorate. The teenager has already stopped going to school, after his classmates began teasing him.
They called him Auro, a progeria patient played by Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan in the Bollywood movie Paa.
When a fellow student told him he too would suffer a heart attack like Auro did in the movie, upset Nihal refused to go back.