(WJW) – A 9-year-old girl in Vietnam found instant relief after doctors extracted a massive hairball from her gastrointestinal tract during a three-hour surgery.
According to a Jan. 8 news release from FV Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, the girl, identified only as “H,” was admitted to the hospital with severe abdominal pain, which she’d been experiencing for several days. Her family said the girl was also vomiting and losing weight.
An examination revealed the girl’s gastrointestinal tract was “completely obstructed by a large hairball,” measuring more than 3 feet long, tightly coiled and braided from the stomach down into the small intestine, the release said.
Left untreated, doctors said the blockage could cause a life-threatening situation.
While examining the child, doctors noticed her hair was “unusually brittle and standing upright,” according to the release. The girl’s mother revealed that her daughter had, since she was a toddler, been pulling out her hair and eating it. Her parents believed the habit was harmless.
“Hair cannot be digested,” FV Hospital explained. “Over time, it accumulates and hardens into a mass that blocks the stomach outlet and can lead to complete intestinal obstruction. This is a complication of trichophagia, a condition that often progresses silently over many years.”
Trichophagia is “a mental health disorder that causes you to eat hair,” according to the Cleveland Clinic, which added that the condition very rarely can cause hairballs to develop in the stomach, keeping food from moving through the digestive system.
Doctors in Vietnam called the 9-year-old’s case “rare and highly complex,” and opted to perform a three-hour surgery to remove the hairball.
“Following surgery, H. experienced rapid pain relief, resumed normal eating, and was discharged after five days. At recent follow-up visits, she has shown healthy weight gain and a marked improvement in both her physical condition and overall well-being,” the release stated. You can read more about the case and see pictures the hospital shared here.
Tricophagia is considered a type of pica, or a condition in which you eat non-food items. The Cleveland Clinic said it isn’t entirely clear why tricophagia, like pica, happens, but that the behavior has been linked to anorexia nervosa, anxiety disorders, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Those with tricophagia “may not even realize” they are eating their hair, the healthcare provider explained.
Treatment can vary from patient-to-patient, and those who believe they may have the condition should consult their physician.
Nexstar’s Addy Bink contributed to this report.
