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A 16-year-old girl (whose identity shall remain anonymous for privacy) in India has finally gone to the doctor after suffering stomach pains for six years.
The teen explained that she’d been suffering stomach pains for several years, but more recently, she’d begun to lose her appetite and had started vomiting whenever she ate.
Her doctor, Dr. Iqbal Saleem, immediately noticed that the girl’s front hair was uneven. It showed signs of severe physical strain and damage, and upon making this observation, decided to operate on the girl’s stomach.
He had a suspicion of what was going on.
In the teen’s stomach, he found a massive hairball – not just of the girl’s own hair that she’d tugged off her head – but also the hair of others, including her friends.
“She has been addicted to hair eating from last six years,” Dr. Saleem explained. “This girl is suffering from Rapunzel syndrome, a rare condition in which a tail-like extension of hairball is found in the stomach.”
Rapunzel syndrome is actually a psychological phenomenon when an emotionally unstable person eats their own hair (and occasionally that of others) as a symptom of their anxiety. The hair is not absorbed by the stomach, so as the hairball grows over time, stomach pain and problems increase.
The girl, now that she’s had her hairball removed, is doing much better, but has since been sent to receive psychiatric treatment to help keep her from continuing her anxious habit.
