Trichophagia (Greek: τριχοφαγία, from τρίχα, tricha “hair” + φάγειν, phagein “to eat”) is the compulsive eating of hair. Most often, long hair is masticated (chewed) while still attached to the head and then swallowed. The hair eventually collects in the gastrointestinal tract causing symptoms such as indigestion and stomach pain. A purgative can be given to induce the elimination of the resulting trichobezoar.

In some cases, surgery may be required to remove the mass.^[1] In 2007, an article in The New England Journal of Medicine reported the removal of a hairball weighing ten pounds from the stomach of an eighteen year-old Chicago woman suffering from trichophagia.^[2]

There has been at least one reported death, occurring in 1999 in the UK (though this resulted from internal bleeding following the operation to remove a very large hairball).^[3]

[edit] See also

• Rapunzel syndrome
• Trichotillomania
• List of cutaneous conditions

[edit] References

• Chamberlain SR, Menzies L, Sahakian BJ, Fineberg NA (April 2007). "Lifting the veil on trichotillomania". Am J Psychiatry 164 (4): 568–74. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.164.4.568. PMID 17403968. http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/164/4/568. 
• Pul N, Pul M (1996). "The Rapunzel syndrome (trichobezoar) causing gastric perforation in a child: a case report". Eur. J. Pediatr. 155 (1): 18–9. PMID 8750804. 
• Ventura DE, Herbella FA, Schettini ST, Delmonte C (2005). "Rapunzel syndrome with a fatal outcome in a neglected child". J. Pediatr. Surg. 40 (10): 1665–7. doi:10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2005.06.038. PMID 16227005. 
• Sah DE, Koo J, Price VH (2008). "Trichotillomania" (PDF). Dermatol Ther 21 (1): 13–21. doi:10.1111/j.1529-8019.2008.00165.x. PMID 18318881. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/119418689/PDFSTART. 

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