In a rare surgical intervention, a UP girl suffering from ‘Rapunzel Syndrome’ was operated with 2kg of hairball in her stomach. The incident was reported from Lucknow where doctors from the Balrampur Hospital did a surgery on the teen-girl suffering from a rare mental disorder. The doctors, after the surgery, found a huge lump of hairball stuck in her stomach which weighed as much as 2 kgs.
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The human mind and the human body are miraculous, and while we think we know so much about them, certain cases are reminder of the fact that we’ve barely scratched the surface. In one such case, a girl, suffering from Rapunzel Syndrome was rushed to a surgical room, and was successfully operated to be cleared off of 2kg of hairball in her stomach.
What do We Know about Rapunzel Syndrome?
When the word Rapunzel is heard, the image of a charming young princess with long hair is conjured by our minds. However, Rapunzel Syndrome is a disorder that has nothing charming about it.
The origin of the disease comes from a fairy tale, where Rapunzel, a princess, lets her hair flow through the window of her long tower, so that the charming prince can climb up using that and rescue her. The syndrome is a rare disorder where a person is addicted to eating their hair so much, that they later get trapped in their stomach. These hairs form a hairball in their stomach called the trichobezor and can cause severe gastric and intestinal issues.
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The Case of the Lucknow Teen Girl
Recently, a minor girl from Lucknow, UP, was taken to the Balrampur Hospital after she complained of increasingly getting severe stomach pain and persistent vomiting. She was examined by the relevant medical experts.
The doctors ordered an ultrasound test, through which a lump was identified in the abdomen of the teen-girl. Subsequent CT scan report also showed a large lump which led the doctors to order an endoscope.
It was during that endoscope that the doctors saw a hairball in the girl’s abdomen. As much as 20 cm wide, the hairball weighed 2kg.
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“Girl denied eating hair. Agreed after a lot of coaxing.”
A Times of India report quoted a doctor involved in the case saying, “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.”
Patient Lost Over 30kg of Weight
According to reports, the hairball had turned into a knot and that’s how the passage that connected her stomach with the small intestine was blocked. This led to the girl losing more than thirty kilograms of weight as food was not passing through.
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Surgery Successful – Psychiatric Care Advised
The surgery – which went on for more than 1.5 hours – was successful and the doctors claimed that the patient has been advised psychiatric help after she recovers. “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,” a doctor involved in the case said.
It should be noted that while not heard often, and arguably, even gross, cases of Rapunzel Syndrome are not as uncommon as one would imagine. Earlier this year in June, New Indian Express reported the case of a 17-year-old girl from Telangana who also went through a similar surgery.
According to reports, the girl had been eating her hair for more than 5 months and hair lump weighing 2 kg was removed from the girl’s stomach and small bowel.
