Researching Aging Disorders?

So I'm interested in starting a story where the main character is in his thirties but looks 15-17 because of his aging disorder. I haven't decided what disorder to give him yet though, so do you guys think you can provide some article links that might help?

The only aging disorder I know exists is progeria, and it goes the other way 'round, it causes kids to age rapidly so fast that when they're ten they look like mummies.

Sounds like your guy just has really good genes, most guys his age would kill to still look like they did at 16/17. So unless he's actually stuck at that age for life, he's just really really really ridiculously good-looking.

I have heard of aging disorders where they just seem to be stuck at a certain age though. I was thinking more of something like the guy is stuck as a teenager, but he has the mentality of a 30-year-old.

I'll confess that I'm actually doing a modetn-day AU involving Sasori from Naruto. Maybe I'll stick to canon and make him become a puppet? Or maybe involve a "Groundhog Day" Loop? Either way, I'm reconsidering my options.

There is a condition called Highlander Syndrome. It does not in any way extend your life, and many cases show signs of mental illness or weakened immune system. I'm not sure how much of what I know is true and how much is from fiction, but I am aware of the disorders existence. It usually stops aging at a very young age though, so you'd at the very least be taking artistic license on how old he was when it set it.

I'll take that one into consideration. Thank you! :)

Panhypopituitarism.

There are a host of side issues, but the big one is that a sufferer may look like a child well into adulthood.

That was invented for a manga, insofar as I can tell. Actually, the sources that refer to the imaginary syndrome in that comic are the most comprehensible. If anything valid can be taken from them, it looks like a slang term for some form of hypopituitarism or panhypopituitarism.

edited 16th Sep '14 12:31:12 AM by JHM

There's a real medical condition for this. See here.

Other people also had it, under Real Life section of Immortality Begins at Twenty.

I've heard of Brooke Greenberg. Somehow I find her story one huge Tear Jerker.

I think Panhypopituitarism is the closest thing to what I want at the moment. I could just make the canon character I want to give it to be diagnosed with it as a child, then the story will focus on him being an adult and eventually dying at the end. Sasori doesn't look exactly 'childlike' though; more like his late teens or so. I am trying to create a modern AU while keeping as canon-like as possible (simply turning the guy into a puppet show master still counts as In Name Only in my book), so yeah.