Punjab: Doctors remove huge hairball, mud, chalk from teen\'s stomach

Ludhiana: A 19-year-old underwent surgery for the removal of a huge hairball measuring 22 cm by 8 cm in size from her stomach at Mahavira Civil Hospital here on Wednesday.

The teenage girl, who has not been named, suffers from a rare psychiatric disorder which causes her to eat her own hair.

Dr. Milan Verma, one of the surgeons who performed trichobezoar surgery on the girl told ANI that the along with hair she also ate mud, chalk, and sand because of the psychological disorder.

The doctor said that the operation was challenging because the girl was suffering from ulcers, was underweight and malnourished.

Dr. Varun Saggar, who was also a part of the surgical team said that the girl suffered trichophagia, a compulsive eating disorder of hair associated with a trichotillomania which is pulling out one's own hair associated with a trichotillomania that is hair pulling in extreme cases it forms trichobezoar.

He also added that it is very rare but this kind of syndrome and around 90 percent of cases occur in young women.

The teenage girl is now recovering from her surgery but it is still unclear whether she will have psychiatric support.

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