A Quokka Dreeds its Weird

It was also a sudden change that only happened in one city. Everywhere else, people look normal, and in Orleans they used to look normal up until the point where they suddenly started being born gray and wrinkly and red-eyed and with bad hair. I can buy that that would both be upsetting and, given that they had an available fix for it, be something most/many people would want to fix. (Not everyone does want to fix it, but has to in order to be employed and/or out of peer pressure or family pressure.)