Doctors remove massive metre-long HAIRBALL from girl’s stomach after years of chewing her hair
The six-year-old was taken to hospital suffering from abdominal pain and is suspected to be suffering from 'Rapunzel syndrome'
DOCTORS have removed a four pound hairball from a girl's stomach that measured more than a metre in length.
The six-year-old was taken to hospital suffering from abdominal pain and persistent vomiting for three to four days.
Her tummy was rigid and she was also severely dehydrated, her doctors noted in a BMJ report.
Doctors sent her for an X-ray which revealed the massive hairball, which was blocking her bowel.
The clump of hair had formed in her stomach and continued through her intestines.
The girl, from India, needed surgery to remove the mass to allow food to pass through her digestive system again.
Upon removal the hairball weighed 4lbs, measured 11cm by 16cm where it had been in the stomach and the "tail" that followed through her intestines measured an incredible 1.1 metres.
Doctors diagnosed the little girl with trichotillomania, often called Rapunzel syndrome.
Trichotillomania is a rare condition where a person is compelled to pull their hair out.
While in many cases it involves the hair on a person’s head, sufferers can also pull out their eyebrows and eyelashes.
People with trichotillomania sometimes eat the hair they have pulled out.
This can cause hairballs to form in the stomach or bowel and lead to serious complications like a blockage or hole in your digestive system, inflammation of the pancreas and jaundice caused by a blockage of the bile ducts.
"Parents gave history that their girl used to play with her hair and put it in her mouth since childhood, which she probably swallowed," Dr Vikram Khanna wrote in the report.
"However, they gave no history of any psychiatric illness.
"She had decreased appetite, early satiety and poor weight gain since childhood.
"On specific examination, her hair were sparse with the presence of flag sign, and she weighed below the 50th percentile for her age."
She was kept in hospital for seven days and underwent psychiatric evaluation.
There were no complications after her surgery but her parents were advised she should receive counselling for the disorder and eat a high-protein diet to gain weight.
MORE ON TRICHOTILLOMANIA
Sufferers are overwhelmed by an intense urge to pull out their hair.
And this is combined with a growing tension until they do, followed by a sense of relief.
The condition tends to be diagnosed more commonly in girls than boys, and can cause negative feelings of guilt, shame and embarrassment.
It is not known what triggers the condition, though some experts believe it is a type of addiction.
Others suggest it could be a sign of a mental health problem, or even a form of self-harm.
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