When the bump on her left cheek first began to grow, an 83-year-old woman could cover it with a mask when she went outdoors. It had started as a hard, smooth bump about 2 to 3 millimeters across. More than 15 years later, it had become a sharply curved horn about 4 centimeters long, roughly 1.6 inches, and her doctors said it looked like a large rooster's spur.
By then, no mask could hide it. According to a case report in Case Reports in Medicine, published May 14, 2026, she grew increasingly self-conscious around other people and was embarrassed by neighbors' comments. Her niece eventually brought her to the Department of Odonto-Stomatology at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam, where the growth was diagnosed as a giant cutaneous horn.
