Hair eating disorder

Article written by Master Dang Thi Thanh Tung - Psychologist - Unit of Regenerative Medicine Clinic and Educational Psychology

According to psychologists - psychiatrists, trichotillomania or hair-pulling disorder is considered a mental illness. From hair pulling many patients turn to eating hair, the hair sticks to a bun in the stomach called the syndrome: Rapunzel bun

According to reports, the young girl vomited a lot after each meal and her body became noticeably weaker for a long time. After conducting a thorough examination, doctors discovered a bezoar, a mass of indigestible matter, accumulated in the girl's stomach. The Bezoar had filled up almost all of her stomach, causing pain and intestinal ulcers. During the operation, doctors removed a giant hairball measuring 50 x 10 x 10 cm and weighing about 1.8kg.
Dr Bator Dondokov, the girl's surgical team leader, suspects that the girl suffers from a mental disorder called trichophagia - Hairball disorder, which leads to a habit of chewing her hair. This hair accumulates in the stomach day after day and forms a large mass.
Fortunately, after the successful surgery, the girl's health returned to normal.
Another case: Lisa, who lives in the UK, Millie's mother recounts that since she was three years old, she has occasionally seen her swallow her soft curls. But she thought it was just a bad habit of children like biting their nails, or picking their noses. Some time later, she discovered that her little daughter's head was bald without understanding why?
When the girl began to have persistent abdominal pain, her husband and wife took her to treatment, but the doctor could not find the cause of the disease, but only treated her for constipation, but the disease still did not improve. . Lisa and her husband once thought Millie had cancer because her hair continued to shrink.
Until the summer when she turned five years old, Millie had a stomach ache almost every day. Lisa was miserable, helplessly watching her child writhe in pain but no doctor could find out the reason. During the period when Millie was becoming the weakest, Lisa received a referral letter for Alder Hey Liverpool hospital. It was like the light at the end of the tunnel for her.
Millie had an endoscopy and was diagnosed with a rather large black mass in her stomach, and she needed surgery. Lisa and her husband believed it was a cancerous tumor, and they almost lost all hope until the surgeon came out with a calmer face.
The girl swallowed a huge mass of hair, it wrapped tightly around her stomach and spilled into her intestines. This is a rare hair swallowing syndrome named after the fairy character Rapunzel.
Returning home a week later, the first thing Lisa cut off her daughter's long hair, to prevent the girl from continuing to swallow her hair.

In Vietnam, there was also a patient named P.T.T who was discovered by doctors at Children's Hospital 1 that he had lost his hair due to pulling out his temples, eating hair, and had a bun in his stomach. removed by the surgeon. However, doctors also require the child to need psychological treatment after surgery. The source of the disease may be the loss of the biological mother a few years ago, leading to psychological trauma. In order to get rid of the habit of pulling hair, young children like T. need to be cared for by their parents, mentally stable, and examined and treated as prescribed by a specialist.
According to MSc-BS Nguyen Ngoc Quang, Director of the Regional Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Ho Chi Minh City. In Ho Chi Minh City, pathological hair pulling is classified by the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association) in the group of "Obsessive compulsions and related disorders". The disease is 7 times more common in children than in adults, with the highest incidence between the ages of 4 and 17. The disease makes children feel sad and can cause moderate impairment in social activities. society, in school as well as in the child's family relationships.
In an article about Rapunzel syndrome in The Conversation, Imogen Rehm, a psychologist at the University of Swinburne, suggests that the syndrome can develop in people with trichotillomania or a minority group of people. intellectual ability. Rapunzel buns cause severe gastrointestinal symptoms, even 4% of people have died.
Currently there are only 27 cases in the world. The above are examples of three of the known cases with obvious consequences of hair eating disorder.
In my more than ten years as a psychotherapist I have worked with an early case of hair loss disorder. 7 year old girl in second grade. Tall and voluptuous compared to peers of the same age. She is the same age as my son. However, physically tall is much larger. My mother took me to the doctor because I often pull out my hair and put it in my mouth to eat. Many times when my family can't detect it, I eat and swallow it. Some times the family found out that when he ate it, he choked on his hair and he vomited when he tried to pull his hair out. When feeding, he often gets entangled and feels uncomfortable when swallowing food. Therefore, children are picky eaters, everything must be pureed and very lazy to eat. Moreover, according to her mother: I am very nervous and afraid when going to school. At home, I just love to be pampered by my parents, just talk a little loudly or pay little attention, I will cry alone or run to a private place to tear and eat my hair. When I went to school, I had a hard time making friends and didn't play with anyone.
When the child arrives, it takes a lot of time to get used to and separate from the mother. There are times when children sit to work with her, but still have to have their mother sit next to her. After the 5th session, the child gradually separated from the mother and worked with the therapist.
Children have changed completely with help. Because children's symptoms stem from children's low self-esteem, anxiety and fear. When we know the source of the children's difficulties, we have taken steps to remove them. And after 3 months (2 sessions per week), the child has gradually regained his confidence, has more skills to make friends, dares to speak his mind and has completely reduced his anxiety and fear of weaving. As a result, children also reduce and then completely lose the behavior of pulling hair and eating hair.
Fortunately, I haven't been to the point of surgery because the hairball has been swallowed in my stomach. Both the therapist and the family and the child are relieved to have helped her change and become the person she is today.
Therefore, parents cannot be subjective, even with a small sign from their children such as: Lazy to eat, tired, or vomiting, or upset, or seeing their children whining and angry every time they come home from school. . In addition, signs such as: Anxiety and fear of going to school, abdominal pain before each class, not wanting to go out to play with friends, family... These abnormal signs are all indicators for us must take care of children every day so that they can live in joy and happiness.

Caring, protecting and nurturing children is a long process, so parents should be a companion to help children develop their physical and mental abilities well. If you notice that your child has abnormal signs such as eating hair or having difficulty in caring for and teaching children, you can go to Vinmec International General Hospital to receive help from doctors and specialists. psychologist.

The article uses material from the website:
https://plo.vn/quoc-te/muon-mat/phat-hien-khoi-toc-nang-18-kg-ben-trong-da-day- benh-nhan-862923.html https://plo.vn/quoc-te/muon-mat/co-be-5-tuoi-nuot-toc-cua-minh-trong-hai-nam-troi-494693.html