Before the young girl, who was not identified, was rushed to hospital with bruises on her scalp and face, she passed out twice. When she arrived at the hospital, the doctors started running tests and reportedly discovered a mass in the girl’s upper abdomen during her checkup. The teen had been feeling abdominal pain on and off for the past five months, but it got worse in the two weeks before she went to the hospital. She also previously suffered from trichotillomania and trichophagia, which are both mental health disorders.
According to the doctors, the CT scan discovered that there was a large mass inside a distended stomach with a tear in the stomach wall. The teen was diagnosed with “Rapunzel syndrome,” which is when hairball extends into the intestine from the stomach. After the girl had surgery, doctors successfully removed the hairball (SEE PHOTO). It was so large that it formed a cast of the entire stomach. Following her surgery, the teen was taken to the ICU and given food through a feeding tube that had been inserted into her small intestine–this was necessary because her stomach needed time to heal, The Post has reported.
The hospital psychiatrists proved an uneventful postoperative course” seven days after the operation, and the girl was allowed to go home. Then a month later, she had no indications of issues. She was progressing well with dietary advice, as well as seeing a psychologist. Rapunzel syndrome, while exceedingly rare, is a real medical condition. In fact, there have been 89 reported cases in the BMJ Case Reports journal alone.
The woman went to the doctor complaining of abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting – all symptoms which are associated with Rapunzel syndrome. Eating hair can be harmful. It might block the intestines and lead to death. The majority of patients with Rapunzel syndrome are females aged 20 or younger, according to reports. The youngest patient reported was a toddler, while the oldest was a 55-year-old man.
