Girls with rare diseases: 'Princess in Grimm's fairy tale'

Girls born from a young age all developed normally, however, for the past few years, she had a strange behavior that she cut her own hair into her mouth, chewed and swallowed.

The parents did not pay attention because they thought it was normal behavior and did not take them to the doctor. Recently, when she was constantly vomiting, the mother took her daughter to Ho Chi Minh City Children's Hospital 1 to start with a startled diagnosis of her daughter's diagnosed disease: suffering from "hair-eating" addiction, also called is: Rapunzel syndrome.

On the morning of February 28, sharing with the press, Dr. Dao Trung Hieu, Deputy Director of Children's Hospital of Ho Chi Minh City, said that when the Hospital (BV) received treatment for PPT girls (7 years old). In Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province, she has fallen into malnutrition, lack of substance due to abnormal eating habits. Baby T. suffered from severe malnutrition, weighing 13kg in a 7-year-old child. In addition, the baby often has an ingestion phenomenon.

Her mother said she did not know when she had this bizarre hobby, since they both went to work, sent her to look after her grandmother. But both husband and wife acknowledge, sometimes discovering that the baby picked up the hair and put it in his mouth.

Chignon get out of the baby girl's stomach.

At Children's Hospital 1, through ultrasound, doctors discovered that the object nearly filled the stomach of the baby. Ultrasound images show that hair is not only located in the stomach of the patient but also extends down to the small intestine.

The surgery to remove a bun from your baby's stomach is not complicated. However, the current problem is the psychological treatment for babies and how to make the baby out of this disease takes a long time.

In the case of little T., according to Dr. Hieu, she had Rapunzel syndrome. People with this disease have a tendency to break the hair on their heads and swallow them. This is a syndrome called after a beautiful long-haired princess with her hair as long as a tower in Grimm's fairy tale.

In this ancient story, the princess who is trapped by the name Rapunzel has released her long hair through a window of the tower to help the prince climb up to rescue her.

Named for this story, Rapunzel's syndrome is a rare medical condition. People who get sick, swallow their hair into the stomach, causing tangled, sticky hair strands stuck in their stomachs. From there formed a trichobezoar (chignon) , whereby, there is usually a tail that extends to the small intestine.

Common habits of these patients are often, touching the ends of the hair to the lips, tasting the hair and chewing and swallowing. So far, this syndrome is still considered a rare syndrome in literature and has not been studied much.

After surgery, psychological treatment for the baby is extremely important.

According to the pediatricians 1, in the last 3 years, in this hospital, there are about 10 cases of children also have the habit of "eating hair" hospitalized. However, in case of breaking your own hair to eat like baby T. is a very rare case, is also the second case that BV meets in cases of visit here.

In the published literature of the world about this disease also indicates, in addition to manifestations of abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, people with this syndrome also have the condition: bloating, decreased appetite, weight loss, constipation or diarrhea. The disease causes damage to the small intestine, resulting in poor nutrient absorption.

In some cases, the intestine is punctured, which can lead to septicemia (blood infection). A small percentage of people with this syndrome have died. In particular, women tend to have Rapunzel syndrome more than men.

To cure the disease, surgery is necessary and most effective to remove the bun. After surgery, psychological treatment is even more important to prevent repeat hair-eating behavior again in the future, because a very high proportion of patients are at risk of relapsing Rapunzel syndrome again.