Hyderabad doctors remove hairball from 11-year-old Omani girl's abdomen

A large hairball has been removed from 11-year-old Omani girl's abdomen by the doctors of Yashoda Hospital in Hyderabad. The girl is said to have diagnosed with gastro trichobezoar which is an extremely rare intestinal condition in humans resulting from the ingestion of hair.

Trichobezoar is a disorder when a mentally unstable person is involved in obsessive pulling of hair and eating it. However, the girl who was not suffering from any disorder ate the air that accumulated as a lump in the stomach. The girl's parents were not aware of the situation.

The girl's condition came to light when she complained of pain and swelling in her stomach, as well as loss of appetite and weight loss. Following which her parents took her to hospital. Preliminary diagnosis through ultrasound and CT scan showed an unidentified lump in the stomach.

The doctors who treated the girl said that they have performed an UGI Endoscopy and detected the hair lump in the girl's abdomen. "The girl's abdomen was filled with hair completely. If it was left untreated, the hair could have extended from the stomach into the small intestine. An operation has been performed and removed the hair through laparoscopy," Dr Prasad Babu of Yashoda hospitals said.

The patient was advised of well-balanced diet after the operation. The doctors said that the girl was able to walk on the next day and was put on oral liquid diet. She was discharged from the hospital on the third day.