Andy's disorder has been identified as a congenital growth hormone deficiency. While theoretically a growth hormone deficiency might lead to a prolonged lifespan, the reality is that these people have increased mortality due almost entirely to other pituitary hormone deficiencies. These people also have an increased relative risk of death in adulthood from cardiovascular causes resulting from altered body composition and dyslipidemia. As was discussed earlier, people with growth hormone deficiencies have delayed onset of puberty and suffer from low production of sex hormones.
[1]To identify Andy as young looking we need to first define what gives the appearance of youth: soft skin, low muscle tone, short stature, higher voice.
All of these aesthetic definitions of youth can be explained by his condition. Low production of sex hormones can cause a feminine, softer, appearance and higher voice (see eunuch singers such as Alessandro Moreschi, who was castrated before puberty). Testosterone causes a change in texture to skin. Note, low sex hormones do not correlate directly to infertility.
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33 downloads(Alessandro Moreschi in his late 20s)
In the presence of a short stature, elevated body fat percentage, low muscle tone, this can be mistaken has youth. Other people with congenital growth hormone disorders such as Charles Sherwood Stratton (see below - although clearly their exact conditions are somewhat varied), have also appeared younger than their actual age, but showed signs of aging as they approached middle age.
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46 downloads(Middle aged Charles Sherwood Stratton)
I think what is happening here is that we are mistaking Andy's physical traits as evidence of lack of aging, which isn't nessisarily a correct assumption. Take for instance the following male model:
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98 downloads
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35 downloads(Both of these men are the same age)
The photos in the above article were taken when this man had just turned 20 years old. Arguably, the model would probably pass as someone several years older than his current age due to his heavily masculinized physical features. Is he actually biologically older than his contemporaries? No, I doubt his telomeres are any longer or shorter than an average person of his age. Genetically he was predisposed to develop physical traits we culturally associate with later stages in adult hood. Most of us have probably known a childhood friend who appeared to age much quicker than our other peers. When I was growing up, I had a friend who was shaving at 12 and looked like a full grown man by 15. I appeared quite boyish into my 20s and still get teased about my young looks by older looking coworkers. These types of disparities in the appearance of physical development can be exacerbated by hereditary conditions - leading to a apparant childlike appearance of Andy.
Lets consider Progeria. People with this disease develop diseases of aging very earily and die very early. However, they are not aging. They have normal telomere length (unlike people with Wagners). Progeria is caused by a point mutation in position 1824 Replacing Thymine with Cytosine creating an unusable type of protein called Lamin A. Lamin A is part of the building blocks of the nuclear envelope. Making the assumption they are acutally aging based on their physical traits would be inaccurate.
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22 downloads(A young child with Progeria)
Finally, lets compare Andy to someone who is actually 14. Below is a picture of me at age 14.
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30 downloads(me age 14)
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42 downloads(andy late early 30s)
Yeah, we look somewhat similar, but if you took away Andy's bodyfat (and the subsequent fullness it provides his face) I think he would actually look a fair bit older. Still young, but not so much in the child like way that has gained him noteriety.