China doctors remove 2kg hairball from girl’s stomach – condition caused by 6-year habit
Stomach of emaciated teenager who pulled out and ate her own hair swells to double the size of normal
Doctors in China had to remove a 2 kg “hair ball” from the stomach of a teenage girl after she became addicted to pulling out and eating her own hair over a six-year period.
In July, the 15-year-old, nicknamed Nini, from Henan province in central China, went to Wuhan Children’s Hospital in the neighbouring province of Hubei with her mother.
The girl was extremely thin, standing at 1.6m but weighing only 35kg. Also, she had not menstruated for six months, the Hubei Daily reported.
Her mother took Nini for treatment for a fierce stomach ache that prevented her from eating and almost made her collapse.
Nini was also diagnosed with serious anaemia, the report said.
The girl’s mother told doctors that the girl had been eating her own hair for six years.
Doctors discovered a “hairball” composed of hair and food residue occupying almost her whole stomach.
They concluded it was the cause of the girl’s series of illnesses.