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[1] Doctors in China had to remove a 2kg “hairball” from the stomach of a teenage girl after she became addicted to pulling out and eating her own hair over a period of six years.
[2] The 15-year-old, nicknamed Nini, is from Henan province in central China. In July, she went to Wuhan Children’s Hospital in the neighbouring province of Hubei with her mother. The girl was extremely thin, standing at 1.6m but weighing only 35kg. Additionally, she had not menstruated for six months, according to the Hubei Daily.
[3] Nini’s mother took her to the doctor for a severe stomachache that made her unable to eat and nearly caused her to collapse. The doctors also found that Nini had severe anaemia. Her mother revealed that Nini had been eating her own hair for six years.
[4] Doctors discovered a “hairball” made up of hair and food residue occupying almost her entire stomach. They concluded that this was the cause of the girl’s series of illnesses. On July 14, Nini underwent surgery to remove the hairball. During the operation, doctors found that her stomach had swollen to twice its normal size.
[5] Five days after the operation, Nini began eating. She was discharged from the hospital and returned for a physical check-up on August 5, when the doctors confirmed that she was recovering well. Her mother said that she was gaining weight.
[6] “If children have been eating non-food objects such as hair and glass for more than a month and cannot stop, parents should be alert to a condition called trichophagia and take them to hospital,” said a doctor whose name was not disclosed.
[7] Liu Fang, a doctor from Jinling Hospital in Nanjing, eastern Jiangsu province, wrote on the health website 39.net that patients with trichophagia usually receive treatment involving diet, psychiatry and medicine.
[8] “We will suggest patients eat more food rich in vitamins. We will also correct patients’ wrong cognition to change their behaviour. Thirdly, we will prescribe oral liquid for them to improve their health,” Liu said. Sometimes, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and physiotherapy will be adopted, Liu added.
If you have an eating disorder or know someone who is experiencing a similar condition, help is available. In Hong Kong, you can dial 18111 for the government-run Mental Health Support Hotline. For a list of other nations’ helplines, see this page.
Source: South China Morning Post, August 17
