Doctors Remove Hairball Shaped Like Tumor From 9-Year-Old Girl's Stomach In Rare Case

The doctors at a hospital in India have reportedly removed a large hairball from the stomach of a 9-year-old girl.

The surgery was performed in the western city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

The child, identified only as Nancy, was taken to the hospital after she complained of pain in her abdomen.

The girl had been suffering from bouts of abdomen pain for over a year. Her parents took her to several doctors, but nobody was able to diagnose what was causing the discomfort in her stomach, India Today reported.

Later, Nancy's father took her to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital where several tests, including ultrasonography and X-ray of the abdomen, were done. The reports revealed the presence of a tumor-like shape inside the child's stomach.

“We decided to operate on her to investigate further. To our surprise, the tumor was made entirely of hair. The hair had started hardening, causing severe stomachache. The condition is identified as trichobezoar,” Jayshree Ramji, pediatric surgeon at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital told The Times of India. "During the investigation, we also found that the girl was eating her own hair and her parents had seen her hair becoming less. We have done psychiatrist counseling as well, so that in future she does not eat her hair again. The girl is safe now.”

It was not clear when the operation took place.

Dr Rakesh Joshi, medical superintendent of Civil Hospital, reportedly said they have seen few more cases of the same condition in the past.

However, the condition still remains rare across the world. Experts have previously said there have been less than 100 such cases recorded worldwide. The numbers may have changed a little with the recent cases found in India.

Trichobezoar occurs when an infant or a mentally unstable person is involved in obsessive pulling of hair and eating it, which accumulates as a lump in the stomach. This is also known as Rapunzel syndrome.

In March, a giant hairball was removed from the stomach of an 11-year-old girl by doctors at a hospital in the southern city of Hyderabad. The girl was taken to hospital after she complained of pain and swelling in her stomach, as well as loss of appetite and weight loss.