Meet Sultan Kösen, the tallest man in the world

Sultan Kösen is the tallest man in the world; he was born on the 10th of December 1982, a Turkish farmer who holds the Guinness World Record for tallest living male at 251 centimetres, 8 ft.

Kösen’s growth resulted from the conditions of gigantism and acromegaly, which is caused by a tumour affecting his pituitary gland. Due to his condition, he uses crutches to walk.

Born to a Kurdish family in the southeastern city of Mardin, he is the seventh tallest man in history.

Sultan Kösen

Giganticism occurs when too much growth hormone is released during childhood, causing a person like Sultan Kösen to become unusually tall. The more common acromegaly occurs during adulthood when the excessive growth hormone continues to stimulate tissue growth, but no longer causes a person to grow taller.

To Sultan Kösen, being tall is being able to see a great distance and being able to help his family with domestic tasks such as changing light bulbs and hanging curtains.

However, the disadvantage to him is not being able to find clothes for his legs and for his arms with a sleeve length or shoes that fit for the right foot, whereas his hands are the longest measured in a living person, as well as finding it difficult to fit into an average-sized car.

Meanwhile, Sultan Kösen received Gamma Knife treatment for his tumour at the University of Virginia Medical School and was provided with medication to control his excessive levels of growth hormone.

It was, however, confirmed in March 2012 that the treatment was effective in halting Kösen’s growth.

In October 2013, Kösen married Syrian-born Merve Dibo, who is ten years his junior. In an interview, he said that his biggest problem with his wife is communication, as he spoke Turkish but his wife spoke only Arabic.

Importantly, in 2014, as part of Guinness World Records Day, Kösen met, for the first time, the world’s shortest man ever, Chandra Bahadur Dangi (54.6 cm (1 ft 9+1⁄2 in), at an event in London.

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