Doctors Remove Massive Meter-Long Hairball From 9-Year-Old Girl After Years of Undetected Hair Eating

A nine-year-old girl in Vietnam is recovering after doctors at the Franco-Vietnamese Hospital (FV Hospital) removed a massive hairball that had completely blocked her gastrointestinal tract, creating a serious, life-threatening emergency.

In a hospital press release published Thursday, Jan. 8, the child — identified only as H. — was taken to the emergency department after several days of severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, weight loss and pallor.

After evaluations by General Surgery, Gastroenterology and Imaging specialists, doctors discovered a dense hair mass nearly one meter long. It was tightly coiled, stretching from her stomach down into the small intestine.

Dr. Le Duc Tuan of FV Hospital’s General Surgery Department said clinicians first noticed the child’s hair appeared unusually brittle and was standing upright, prompting them to ask more detailed questions about her medical history.

Only then, he said, did her mother disclose that the child had been pulling out and eating her hair since she was two or three years old. The family hadn’t viewed the behavior as a major concern and assumed it was harmless.

Doctors explained that hair cannot be digested. Over time, years of hair pulling and eating — a condition known as trichophagia — can cause hair to accumulate, compact and harden into a mass. In H.’s case, the buildup eventually led to an intestinal obstruction that blocked the stomach outlet.

To remove the hairball, H. underwent a complex three-hour laparoscopic surgery. Surgeons accessed the obstructed segment of intestine while gastrointestinal endoscopy helped pinpoint the exact location of the mass and supported its removal from the stomach side.

After surgery, H.’s pain improved immediately, and she was able to eat normally again. She was discharged five days later. At a recent follow-up appointment, she showed healthy weight gain and a clear improvement in her physical condition and overall well-being.

Dr. Tuan noted that trichophagia is often linked to mild psychological disorders, early childhood habits, or conditions associated with stress and anxiety. Because of this, he said a child repeatedly pulling out hair and putting it into the mouth should not be dismissed as “normal mischief.”

“If not detected early, this behaviour can lead to very serious consequences, even becoming life-threatening,” he emphasized. He added that psychological support is often important to help prevent the behavior from returning.

H.’s parents were given guidance and advised to closely monitor her, spend more time communicating with her and seek psychological consultation if the behavior continues.