Four-year-old girl hospitalised with lump in stomach before doctors' horror realisation

A four-year-old girl's stomach bulge left doctors stunned when they discovered the cause.

The child, whose identity remains confidential, was admitted to hospital after a week of persistent pain and a noticeable lump in her abdomen.

She had also been experiencing vomiting and feeling full after eating only small amounts of food. Upon examination, doctors found a massive 4x4cm hairball.

The parents of the child revealed that she had been ingesting hair for two weeks prior to her hospital admission, which had resulted in noticeable thinning of her own hair.

This condition is referred to as Rapunzel syndrome, which occurs when someone swallows hair, leading to a mass forming in the stomach. The parents confirmed that there was no family history of eating disorders, and the mother's dietary habits during pregnancy were normal.

The young girl underwent a gastronomy procedure to open up the stomach, revealing the enormous hairball. Details of this case were shared in a recently published medical journal, reports the Mirror.

Doctors at the Institute of Medicine at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal, described it as a stomach-shaped mass with a tail, which was successfully removed from her stomach.

The young girl was evaluated for the hair-related mental conditions Trichotillomania and Trichophagia. However, doctors have reported that she did not attend her regular psychiatry follow-up appointments.

In a tragic case from 2017, a 16-year-old girl named Jasmine Beever died after ingesting her own hair, leading to the formation of an infected hairball in her stomach. The hairball caused an ulcer which burst and ultimately led to organ failure.

Rapunzel syndrome is a condition that primarily affects girls over the age of 12, as explained by Dr. Katharine Phillips, a professor of psychiatry and human behaviour at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

It's estimated that between 10 to 20 per cent of these individuals engage in trichophagia, or the act of eating their own hair. This can result in the formation of hairballs, potentially causing ulcers or blockages in the intestinal tract.

Trichotillomania is a mental disorder characterised by the compulsion to pull out one's own hair. It often begins in childhood, with sufferers typically pulling hair from their scalp.

However, some may also pull hair from other parts of their body, such as eyebrows and eyelashes, leading to thinning hair and bald patches.

Healthline notes that trichotillomania can sometimes result in permanent hair loss and scarring, particularly among those who continue the habit into adulthood. Some of these individuals may also suffer from trichophagia.

You can learn more about Rapunzel Syndrome on the Healthline website here.