YOU NEED TO KNOW
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Nine-year-old boy in Vietnam hospitalized with complete bowel blockage caused by huge hairball
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Doctors trace the obstruction to years of undetected hair food linked to trichophagia
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The boy recovered after minimally invasive surgery and was discharged five days later
A nine-year-old girl in Vietnam is recovering after doctors at the Franco-Vietnamese Hospital (or FV Hospital) removed a huge hairball that had completely blocked her gastrointestinal tract, creating a life-threatening emergency.
According to a press release from the hospital, published on Thursday 8 January, the boy, identified only as H., was brought to the emergency department of the hospital after several days of “severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, weight loss and pallor”.
Further examination by General Surgery, Gastroenterology, and Imaging specialists revealed a dense ball of hair nearly a meter long, coiled tightly from her stomach down into her small intestine.
FV Hospital
H.’s hairball.
“During the examination, we noticed that the boy’s hair was unusually brittle and standing, which led us to take a more detailed medical history,” said Dr. Le Duc Tuan, Department of General Surgery at FV Hospital in a statement.
“Only at that time did the mother reveal that the child had developed a habit of pulling and eating her hair since the age of two or three. The family did not pay much attention to it, assuming it was harmless,” he added.
As explained in the release, the hair cannot be digested, which caused the years of pulling and eating hair (a mental illness called trichophagia) to accumulate and harden in a mass that developed into an intestinal obstruction, blocking the outlet of H.’s stomach.
PEOPLE reached out to FV Hospital for comment and did not receive an immediate response.
To remove the hairball, H. underwent a complex three-hour laparoscopic surgery, which allowed the surgeons to access the obstructed segment of the intestine. At the same time, the gastrointestinal endoscopy helped to identify the exact location of the hairball and helped with its removal from the side of the stomach.
FV Hospital
Surgeons working on H.
After the operation, H. experienced immediate pain relief and resumed eating normally. The child was released from the facility five days after the procedure. At a recent follow-up, H. showed healthy weight gain and marked improvement in both her physical condition and general well-being.
According to Dr. Tuan, trichophagia is often associated with mild psychological disorders, habits formed in early childhood or conditions linked to stress and anxiety. For this reason, the child’s pulling and mouthing behavior should not be dismissed as “normal trouble.”
“If it is not detected early, this behavior can lead to very serious consequences, even become a threat to life,” he emphasized. “In many cases, psychological support is also necessary to prevent recurrence.”
H.’s parents were given guidance and advised to observe the child closely, spend more time communicating with her and seek psychological consultation if the behavior continues.
Read the original article on People