Doctors in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly have extracted 2 kg of human hair from inside the stomach of a 21-year-old woman who had been consuming it for the last 16 years, plucking it on the sly whenever she would get a chance, officials said on Sunday (October 6). Clinically diagnosed as trichophagia, or Rapunzel Syndrome, the psychological condition involves the victims picking their own hair for ingestion. The hair from her body was extracted on September 26 in an operation.
The hair had completely "captured the cavity" of her stomach and even some part of her intestine, doctors said. The Kargaina resident was diagnosed with the condition on September 20 when the accumulation of hair was detected in a CT Scan.
"Trichophagia is a chronic psychiatric disorder that involves the repeated ingestion of hair. It's often associated with trichotillomania, a condition that involves compulsively pulling out one's own hair," Dr MP Singh, a surgeon at the district hospital in Bareilly, said.
Woman counselled at hospital
After her diagnosis, Dr Singh said, the woman was counselled at the hospital. She accepted that from the age of five she had been eating her hair. "The quantity of hair had completely captured the cavity of her stomach and even some part of her intestine," Dr Singh said.
The condition rendered the patient unable to eat solid items, and induced vomiting when she took something liquid. "Psychological problem the patient had is called Trichophagia. Operation was held for trichobezoar, and the syndrome is called the Rapunzel syndrome," Dr Singh said.
"Rapunzel syndrome is an unusual form of trichobezoar found in patients with a history of psychiatric disorders, trichotillomania (habit of hair pulling) and trichophagia (morbid habit of chewing the hair), consequently developing gastric bezoars. The principal symptoms are vomiting and epigastric pain," he added.
He defined trichobezoar as a hairball that can form in the gastrointestinal tract. "It can be benign, but it can also cause serious health concerns and require emergency surgery." Dr Singh said the condition causes such symptoms as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, and weight loss.
"The causes of trichophagia are unknown, but some theories suggest it could be due to genetic predisposition, social environment, or neurobiological factors," he said. Cognitive behavioural therapy is considered the most effective treatment for trichotillomania, he said.
Hospital In-charge Dr Alka Sharma said such cases of complex surgery are very rare. "No such case has been reported in the last 20 years," she said.
(With PTI inputs)
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