Trichophagia

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Trichophagia (Greek: τριχοφαγία, from τρίχα, tricha “hair” + φάγειν, phagein “to eat”) is the compulsive eating of hair. Most often, long hair is masticated while still attached to the head and then swallowed. The hair eventually collects in the gastrointestinal tract causing symptoms such as indigestion and stomach pain. A purgative can be given to induce the elimination of the resulting trichobezoar.

In some cases, surgery may be required to remove the mass.[1]In 2007, an article in The New England Journal of Medicine reported the removal of a hairball weighing ten pounds from the stomach of an eighteen year-old Chicago woman suffering from trichophagia.[2]

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Surgical removal of a hairball
  2. ^ Doctors untangle the strange case of the giant hairball
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