When 13-year-old Chandan Baria first arrived to the emergency room complaining of an upset stomach, doctors didn’t suspect they would find a 2.2-pound clump of hair that was almost 20 inches in length, the Times of India reported.
Chandan, of Limkheda, India, suffers from Rapunzel syndrome, or trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder that is characterized by a repeated urge to pull one’s hair out and then eat it. The condition usually occurs in teenage girls.
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Doctors had to surgically remove the clump. Because of her stomach upset, Chandan had not eaten in a while and had become anemic.
“We will be giving some psychiatric treatment to her in order to ensure that she does not start consuming hair again,” pediatrician Dr. Samir Brahmbhatt told the newspaper.
The doctors who worked on Chandan’s case said they are writing a paper about her to be published in medical journals.
Click here to read more on this story in the Times of India.
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