Kozhikode: A team of doctors removed a lump of hair weighing around 2 kg from the abdomen of a 15-year-old girl at Govt. Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode on Tuesday. The doctors said that it was a case of trichobezoar; the mass of undigested hair within the gastrointestinal tract. The girl from Palakkad approached the surgery department with the suspected presence of a lump in her abdomen. She had already undergone an ultrasonography, a CT scan and an endoscopy at the Medical college. With no diagnosis available, she was subjected to surgery. The hair mass that was removed during the surgery weighed more than 2 kg and measured 30 cm long, the doctors said.
" The condition occurs in youngsters especially girls who are highly stressed. Repeated ingestion of their hair leads to accumulation in the stomach with food particles and it causes a huge lump in due course. This affects food absorption and the patient becomes malnourished," said Dr Y Shahjahan, Department of Surgery. "This is my first experience in my career, though we are aware of such a condition. This girl does not have any psychiatric issues. During our repeated questioning, she admitted that she used to consume her hair. The hair strands were broken. She used to break the hair and consume," said Shajahan.
The girl has been anemic and looked tired and frequently felt nauseous. The patient is stable post-surgery. Dr Vyshak, Dr Jerry, Dr Jithin, Dr Anjali, Dr Abdul Latheef (Anesthesia) were part of the surgery team.
