A hairy tail in the stomach: A silent warning

Abstract

Trichotillomania is a psychiatric disorder in which one is urged to pull hairs and eyelashes out and one is urged to eat these pulled-out hairs, resulting in Rapunzel syndrome (a rare disorder where gastric trichobezoars traverse into the small intestine and can lead to intestinal obstruction). Here we present two case reports. In the First case, a 17 years old boy presented with a history of recurrent pancreatitis and microcytic anemia, while the other patient was a 16 years old female presenting with complaints of epigastric pain and non-projectile, foul-smelling vomiting associated with a low-grade fever. Both had a history of depression and compulsive hair-pulling and eating. After successful surgical management, both patients were eventually referred to Psychiatry.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.41.6.11387

How to cite this: Butt N, Rai L, Mohiuddin G. A hairy tail in the stomach: A silent warning. Pak J Med Sci. 2025;41(6):1854-1856.  doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.41.6.11387

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