Giant hairball took up two-thirds of girl's stomach

Pic shows: The hairball removed from Miao Miao’s stomach Doctors have removed a giant hairball from a little girl after it took up two-thirds of her stomach. Miao Miao, the five-year-old girl from Qingdao City, in East China’s Shandong Province, was hospitalised after complaining of stomach pains to her parents. Subsequent scans done at the Qingdao Women and Infant’s Hospital shocked Miao Miao’s parents her doctors after they revealed a dark mass inside her, taking up approximately two-thirds of her stomach. The girl was taken into surgery where doctors removed the giant hairball, which had hardened inside her over time which caused blockages and later pain. Doctor Jiang Xianmin noted that Miao Miao had most likely been eating her own hair for a period of six to 12 months, and that the behaviour was consistent with a condition known as allotriophagy. It refers to a patient – especially young in age – who has a craving for unusual substances, similar to another condition known as "pica", but without the tendency to eat things such as chalk, metal, glass, ash and the like. During consultations with doctors at the hospital, Miao Miao told her parents that she often ate her hair when she could not fall asleep during naps at her nursery school. Doctor Jiang also noted that it would have been common for Mia Miao – a shy girl – eat her hair whenever nervous. Psychologists at the hospital told Miao Miao’s parents that children between the ages of three and six were more likely to eat unusual substances. They have been asked to pay more attention to their daughter’s daily habits. (ends) (CEN)