Doctors find 1.5kg hairball in Chinese girl’s stomach

A young Chinese girl, who had been eating her hair since she was two, had got a massive 1.5 kilogram lump of hair in her stomach.

The eight-year-old Feifei, from Dongguan city in China’s province Guangdong, had been pulling her hair out and chewing at it for several years.

The girl had reportedly stopped the habit earlier this year, however at the beginning of February, she fell ill and had severe stomach ache. Her mother rushed her to hospital for treatment.

Through CT scan on the girl, Dr Tang Shilong of Donghua Hospital found a massive hairball tangled with food residue.

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Feifei was suffering from trichophagia, a condition in which people can’t keep from eating their hair.

The doctor had to perform surgery to remove 1.5 kg trichobezoar from her stomach.

“This hairball must have been in the stomach for years. The habit of eating hair is a typical symptom of pica, an eating disorder that leaves people with a tendency to eat non-nutritional objects,” said the doctor.

Feifei has recovered now and started taking food.