Girl, 16, has giant HAIRBALL pulled out of her stomach

A sixteen-year-old girl who was unable to eat and experienced bouts of vomiting was found to have a hairball in her stomach. The teenager, from Srinagar, India, suffers from the psychological disorder Rapunzel syndrome, doctors said. She claimed she had no appetite – but they discovered it was because she had been addicted to eating […]

A sixteen-year-old girl who was unable to eat and experienced bouts of vomiting was found to have a hairball in her stomach.

The teenager, from Srinagar, India, suffers from the psychological disorder Rapunzel syndrome, doctors said.

She claimed she had no appetite – but they discovered it was because she had been addicted to eating her hair for the past six years.

Her addiction was so severe that she would even eat her friend’s hair, it has been reported.

Doctors at SMHS hospital, in her hometown, removed the hairball, which had accumulated in her stomach and intestines.

Lead surgeon Dr Iqbal Saleem said: ‘She has been addicted to hair eating from last six years.

‘We found that the frontal hair of the girl was irregular, suggesting the possibility of hair pulling.

‘This girl is suffering from Rapunzel syndrome, a rare condition in which a tail-like extension of hairball is found in the stomach.

‘The addiction of eating hair has resulted in many episodes of vomiting.

‘The girl wasn’t able to eat properly. The girl had maintained a habit of holding her hair in the mouth and plucking hair off other people.’

Dr Saleem added that because it is a psychological disorder, the girl would be given psychiatric treatment to help her.

The condition tends to be found in young people who are emotionally disturbed, experts say. Doctors say there are less than 130 cases reported in medical literature, with almost all of them being young women.

Hairballs increase in size over time because hair isn’t absorbed by the body, with larger ones often causing pain.

 

Culled from dailymail.co.uk