Hairball Horror! World's Longest Hair Removed From 14-Year-Old Girl's Stomach In Uttar Pradesh; Doctor Calls It 'Guinness World Record'
In a rare and shocking medical case, doctors at Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital successfully removed what is believed to be the world's longest trichobezoar, a solid mass of hair, from the stomach and intestines of a 14-year-old girl from Barara village in Agra district, Uttar Pradesh.
The hairball, measuring a staggering 210 centimetres, was discovered lodged deep within her digestive system, as reported by the Times Of India. It extended through her stomach and was entangled throughout the small intestine, making the surgical procedure especially complex. The existing world record for the longest trichobezoar stood at 180 cm. This case surpasses that by a large margin, and the hospital plans to submit the case to the Guinness World Records for official recognition.
The operation, conducted on Tuesday, lasted around two hours. Despite the challenges due to the size and extent of the hair mass, the surgical team managed to extract it entirely in one piece. Breaking the hairball during surgery would have increased risks and prolonged the procedure, but careful precision led to a successful outcome.
According to Dr Jeevan Kankaria, a surgeon at SMS Hospital, the girl suffers from Pica, a psychological condition that leads individuals to eat non-food items. Her condition, as reported by the same media outlet, began in Class 6, when she started consuming chalk in school, influenced by peer behaviour. Over time, her compulsion shifted to eating her hair, eventually forming a dense mass in her digestive tract.
The removed hairball wasn't composed of just hair; it also contained small objects like wooden splinters, rubber bands, stones, threads, and other indigestible materials, all tightly packed within the bundle.
The young patient is now under post-operative care in the hospital. Doctors say her condition is stable, and she is responding well to treatment. She will be discharged once her recovery is confirmed to be complete.
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