VietNamNet Bridge – Doctors of the Children's Hospital 1 in HCM City have performed a surgery to take a big bun of hair from the stomach of a 12-year-old girl from the southern province of Long An.

The bun of hair taken from the girl's stomach.

On February 27, the girl was taken to the hospital with symptoms like having upper abdominal pain and vomiting violently.

Family members said the kid often suffered from intermittent abdominal pain. She ate less and vomited very often. At a hospital in Long An province, the child was diagnosed with stomachache – suspected of enteritis.

Doctors made a scan and found a big solid object in the stomach and the duodenum. An gastrointestinal endoscopic scan was performed and the object was determined as a big bun of hair (5cm diameter, 10cm long).

As the object was too big, doctors could not perform an endoscopic surgery. They had to open the stomach to take the bun of hair off. The surgery showed that the bowel was perforated.

Family members said since the age of 10, every time the child was unpleasant, she pulled hair to... eat.

Doctors said because of mental disorders, some people (usually women) have a habit of pulling hair and swallow. They recommended parents to take their children to hospital for psychological examinations if the kids swallow their hair.

Thu Hang