Doctors at KEM hospital have removed a hairball weighing about 3 kg from the stomach of a 14-year-old girl. Teen used to complain of pain in abdomen, and suffered from a rare condition, which made her eat her own hair
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Doctors at KEM hospital have removed a hairball weighing about 3 kg from the stomach of a 14-year-old girl. The teen used to complain of pain in the abdomen, and suffered from a rare condition, which made her eat her own hair.
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According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, the girl has been eating her hair for the past 10 years. The report added that the Chembur girl was earlier given painkillers. However, there was no improvement in her condition, after which her mother took her to KEM last month. Following the CT scan report, doctors suspected something unusual.
“It appeared she had a tumour in her stomach. Further investigations showed that it was a huge hairball. It was a case of trichobezoar, a rare condition triggered by eating hair strands. It had also infected her stomach lining the area had developed pus,” Dr Jignesh Gandhi, associate professor from the general surgery department of KEM, told Mumbai Mirror.
Doctors cleaned the pus and brought the infection under control through antibiotics. “Considering her age, we decided to go for laparoscopy as post-operative scar looks ugly,” the doctor added. About the surgery, which took place last week, he told Mumbai Mirror that it was quite a tough task. “It weighed at least 3 kg. Though we have had such cases in the past, the size of this hairball was certainly the biggest,” he said.
The report also said that the girl used to eat hair when she was stressed, and added that she had been doing so for at least 10 years. “This was also confirmed during her psychiatric evaluation. She is currently undergoing counselling at KEM. She has been kept under observation for a couple of days,” Gandhi told Mumbai Mirror.
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