A 101 year old woman in China has surprised her relatives after growing a 6 centimetre long horn from her forehead. It looks like another one may be sprouting on the other side of her head.

Her youngest son, Zhang Guozheng (60) said the horn started as a patch of thick, rough skin on the left side of her forehead.

“We didn’t pay too much attention to it at first,” he said. “But as time went on it just grew and grew.

“And now there is something growing on the right side of her forehead and it seems quite possible that it’s another horn.”

Zhang has seven children – six boys and a girl – and many grandchildren. Her eldest son is 82-years-old.

The family live in a rural area and don’t have the money to send her to hospital – but they say she is in no pain and enjoys a peaceful life.

This is a funnel-shaped growth and although most are only a few millimetres in length, some can extend a number of inches from the skin.

Cutaneous horns are made up of compacted keratin, which is the same protein we have in our hair and nails, and forms horns, wool and feathers in animals.

They usually develop in fair-skinned elderly adults who have a history of significant sun exposure but it is extremely unusual to see it form protrusions of this size.

The growths are most common in elderly people, aged between 60 and the mid-70s. They can sometimes be cancerous but more than half of cases are benign.

Common underlying causes of cutaneous horns are common warts, skin cancer and actinic keratoses, patches of scaly skin that develop on skin exposed to the sun, such as your face, scalp or forearms.

Cutaneous horns can be removed surgically but this does not treat the underlying cause.

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