As children, we have all had strange habits in which we have stayed for quite some time even though our parents strongly advised them. More recently, a child’s situation may have alarmed many who bite their nails after their mother had to remove their nails from their gums.
In a similar crash incident the doctors in Dehradun surgically removed a ball as large as a girl’s stomach melon. 16-year-old Aakansha Kumari has an addiction to eating her own hair and had been swallowing locks from the past few years.
Her parents worried when her weight dropped drastically since the hair in her system left her unable to eat while she was vomiting. The mass of hair had apparently occupied 80 percent of space in her stomach and was causing serious problems.
Doctors were surprised to remove the bundle of tangled hair that was revealed through X-rays. The girl was diagnosed with something called “Rapunzel syndrome,” named after the fairy-tale character known for its long locks.
It is caused by trichotillomania, which is an irresistible desire to pull out your own hair and trichophagia which makes people eat their hair. The lump was removed at once and the girl is doing much better after removing the ball which made her lose interest in eating at all.
