Surgeons in Ecuador were able to save a 24-year-old woman from an especially hairy situation.
Over the course of 45 minutes, they successfully extracted a giant mass of hair from the womans stomach.
The hairball had gotten so massive over time that it could be felt from the outside.
©AlxeyPnferov via Getty Images
The hair-raising tale was detailed by doctors at Verdi Cevallos Balda General Hospital.
It caused her intense stomach pain, frequent vomiting, and increasing difficulty ingesting food and liquids.
The mass that doctors pulled from her stomach was measured to be 16 inches long and weighed 2 pounds.
The hairy bezoar extracted from the woman’s stomach. ©Verdi Cevallos Balda General Hospital
The hair had gotten so large that it was starting to snake into the womans intestines.
Bezoars usually occur in the digestive tract and are often made of swallowed hair or fiber.
The report doesnt go into much detail about why the woman swallowed so much hair.
But according to Lovato, the woman was diagnosed with a psychoemotional ailment.
This particular complication has also been nicknamedRapuznel syndrome, a reference to the long-haired fairy tale character.
Trichophagia is often accompanied by trichotillomania, or the compulsion to pull out your own hair.
The woman was discharged from the hospital and is reportedly receiving comprehensive follow-up care.
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