They don't tease me anymore: doctors tried to remove Supatra's hair with laser treatment but it quickly grew back
'One of the most popular girls in school': Supatra with classmates at Ratchabophit school, where she says getting the record for world's hairiest girl has helped her win more friends.
Supatra's hair grew longer as she got older and her mother now cuts it with scissors, above
Suptara with her sister 15-year-old Sukanya, left, her father Sammrueng and mother Somphon
strangers look at Supatra on the streets of Bangkok, but her neighbours say her sweet nature quickly won over her local community
Her nicknames may include 'wolf girl' and 'monkey face'.
But 11-year-old Thai girl Supatra Sasuphan today insisted that she was after being officially recognised as the world's hairiest girl.
Although the schoolgirl from Bangkok has faced merciless teasing at school, Supatra says being given a Guinness World Record for her hair has helped her become extremely popular.
'I'm very happy to be in the Guinness World Records! A lot of people have to do a lot to get in,' she said. 'All I did was answer a few questions and then they gave it to me.'
Supatra is one of just 50 known sufferers of Ambras Syndrome - caused by a faulty chromosome - to be documented since the Middle Ages. Before the disease was understood, sufferers were branded 'werewolves.'
She has thick hair growing over her face, ears, arms, legs and back. Even laser treatment has failed to stop the hair growth.
But while most sufferers have been shunned, Supatra has gradually been embraced by her community, and became a popular and outgoing child.
Supatra has another operation when she was two-years-old and can now breathe normally.
But when Sammrueng and his wife Somphon, 38, brought Supatra home to live with them and their other daughter Sukanya, now 15, they faced more problems.
'When neighbours first saw Nat they asked what kind of sin I had done. I was very worried about what she would be when she grew up because of other children teasing her,' he said.
But Supatra's sweet nature quickly won over people in her community.
Sammrueng, a jewellery maker, said: 'She gets along with others really well and is very generous. She has a lot of friends.
'She is just the same as any other little girl her age.
'But her teeth grow slowly and she can't see very well."
Doctors tried to remove the hair with laser treatment when she was two-years-old but despite numerous sessions it kept growing back as thickly as before.
Supatra's hair has got increasingly thicker as she has grown up so her mother has to cut it back regularly for her.
She uses baby shampoo to wash her hair as she is allergic to stronger brands.
Sammrueng said: 'I still hope one day she will be cured. We will do anything we can if it will help her.'
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