What is FOP?
FOP stands for Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva. Earlier it was also known as Myositis Ossificans Progressiva.
FOP is a rare medical condition where bone gets formed in muscles and other soft tissues of the body.
Whenever extra bone is formed across the joints, it produces movement restrictions. It is a progressive disease i.e. disease progresses in the body of FOP patient with time.
FOP is very often misdiagnosed. Sometimes it is diagnosed to be a cancer/tumour, sometimes as aggressive juvenile fibromatosis, and sometimes progressive osseous heteroplasia (POH).
I have a FOP friend who unfortunately lost his arm because of this misdiagnosis.
FOP Symptoms
The great toe is malformed by birth in case of FOP. Otherwise, the child with FOP appears normal at birth.
FOP starts with formation of painful nodules over shoulder, back & neck which gets transformed into bone. It then start progressing along limbs & trunk and then finally to lower part of the body. A sort of second skeleton is formed.