In a rare medical case, Indian doctors removed a one-kilogram hairball from the stomach of a 6 year-old-girl.

The girl was underweight for her age, and weighed only 14 kilograms.

The girl’s parents, residents of a village near Ludhiana in Punjab, India, brought her to Anmol Hospital.

They told Dr Daljit Singh she had been eating her hair compulsively and was suffering from severe abdominal pain.

Doctors performed an ultrasound test which showed a large mass in her stomach. An endoscopy that followed confirmed the presence of a hair mass in the stomach.

Doctors diagnosed that the girl was suffering from trichophagiais, compulsive eating of hair associated with trichotillomania (hair pulling).

As the hair mass was too big, there was no option of removing it laparoscopically or endoscopically. So the doctors opted for open surgery.

“The lump of hair had taken the shape of her stomach. When I started removing it, I found that it had extended all the way into the patient’s small intestine,” said Dr Singh.

“The hairball was around one metre long and the rare extending of the mass from the stomach to the small intestine is described as Rapunzel syndrome,” he added.

Dr Singh said the girl needed counselling so that she did not start eating her hair again.

The girl was brought to the Anmol hospital in the last week of August. She was operated on September 4 and discharged on September 10. She has made a full recovery.

Doctors said only 50 such cases have been reported in medical journals worldwide.

In a rare medical case, Indian doctors removed a hairball weighing 1 kg from the stomach of a 6 year-old-girl.

The girl was underweight for her age, and weighed only 14 kilograms.

The girl’s parents, residents of a village near Ludhiana in Punjab, India, brought her to Anmol Hospital.

They told Dr Daljit Singh she had been eating her hair compulsively and was suffering from severe abdominal pain.

Doctors performed an ultrasound test done which showed a large mass in her stomach. An endoscopy that followed confirmed the presence of hair mass in the stomach.

Doctors diagnosed that the girl was suffering from trichophagiais, compulsive eating of hair associated with trichotillomania (hair pulling).

As the hair mass was too big, there was no option of removing it laparoscopically or endoscopically. So the doctors opted for open surgery.

“The lump of hair had taken the shape of her stomach. When I started removing it, I found that it had extended all the way into the patient’s small intestine,” said Dr Singh.

“The hairball was around one meter and the rare extending of the mass from the stomach to the small intestine is described as Rapunzel syndrome,” he added.

Dr Singh said the girl needed counselling so that she did not start eating her hair again.

The girl was brought to the Anmol hospital in the last week of August. She was operated on September 4 and discharged on September 10. She is doing fine now.

Doctors said worldwide only 50 such cases have been reported in the medical journals.