10-Year-Old Girl Suffers From A Rare ‘Hair Eating Disorder’ ; Operated For Hours

100 grams of hair was found in the stomach of a 10-year-old girl. The young girl suffers from a rare ‘hair-eating disorder’. It took two hours at a pediatric hospital to conduct the surgery and remove the hair mass. The girl was taken to Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children, where a CT scan showed a mass of hair in the stomach. Some part of the mass was going into the small intestine, doctors said.

The girl lives in Dadar, Mumbai, and has “Trichopagia” – a rare condition in which one pulls out and eats his/her own hair. The girl was suffering from stomach pain for the past one year; she also had heavy bleeding issues. But she didn’t have any other symptoms other than stomach pain.

Not treating her at the right time could have led to implications, says doctor

According to the pediatric surgeon, Dr. Parag Karkera, “Hair is not able to dissolve, so it remains in the digestive system then it turns into a ball or mass, which keeps on growing. This is rarely seen among children.”

“Not treating her at the right time could have led to complications such as intestinal obstruction or perforated intestines, meaning a hole in the wall of the stomach, and small intestine. The patient was doing well on follow-up,” she added.

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Her parents consulted many doctors but failed to treat her

The patient’s mother said, “My daughter encountered intermittent abdominal pain which worsened over time. We were worried as the pain didn’t stop even after giving her medication. We consulted many medicos but they failed to treat her. We were in a rude shock after knowing about the presence of hair in her stomach.”