A 12-year-old Chinese girl was recently forced to undergo surgery after it was discovered there was a massive hairball in her stomach.
Hairballs are usually associated with cats, but every now and then there's a bizarre case involving humans.
A 12-year-old Chinese girl was recently forced to undergo surgery after it was discovered there was a massive hairball in her stomach.
Given the rarity, both doctors and the child’s mother were shocked. It started when the concerned mom brought her daughter in to determine why the girl had been losing both weight and vast amounts of hair.
The child underwent CT scans at the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology. The findings revealed a nearly one foot long mass, which took up approximately 70 percent of her stomach.
Doctors performed surgery to have the then-mysterious clump removed. Following the successful procedure, they realized the solid mass was comprised of hair.
According to the mother, she had previously witnessed her daughter put hair in her mouth, but didn’t give it a second thought, believing it was just kid behavior.
Doctors have diagnosed the girl with the psychological disorder called pica, which causes her to eat hair, dirt and other bizarre substances.
