Lucknow: On Thursday, doctors at Balrampur hospital removed a hairball weighing 2kg from the stomach of a young girl. There is a rare disorder called Trichobezoar that occurs when a mentally unstable individual pulls his or her hair and eats it, accumulating as a lump in the stomach.
The 17-year-old girl from Balrampur approached the hospital complaining of abdominal pain and digestive problems. A preliminary ultrasound and CT scan showed an unidentified lump in the stomach. ‘I performed an endoscopy and detected the ball of hair inside. The patient denied pulling and eating her hair. It is a rare condition found in mentally unstable persons. After a lot of coaxing, she finally agreed that she had been doing it for the last five years,’ explained Dr. SR Samaddar, head of the team.
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The 2kg lump of hair had dimensions of 20×15 centimetres and required one and a half hours of surgery to remove. ‘The patient needs counselling and we have advised psychiatric help for her. She will also need at least 10 days of healing and five days of hospital observation,’ Dr. Samaddar said.
The team consisted of surgeon Dr. SK Saxena, anesthesiologists Dr. Noorul and Dr. Piyush, as well as staff Urmila and Pratibha.
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