I received an email last week entitled "Please blog on this . . . . eeeewwwww!" with this link to a story on a 10-pound hairball in an eighteen-year-old woman.
I'm happy to oblige.
I did find two items in the article somewhat unsettling: the photo of the hairball, and the description of it as a "mass of black, curly hair."
A bezoar is a mass of indigestible material found in the stomach or intestines. A trichobezoar is composed of hair (a hairball), and a phytobezoar consists of vegetable fibres.
Trichobezoars are caused by the ingestion of hair, either one's own (from the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes or elsewhere) or from others. Most cases involve young children who chew hair out of habit, or young women with trichotillomania and trichophagia, psychiatric conditions where anxiety is relieved by pulling and swallowing hair.
There are 24 cases in the medical literature of Rapunzel syndrome, where the body of the trichobezoar lies in the stomach, but a long extension of it trails further down the gastrointestinal tract to as far as the colon. Sorry to ruin that fairytale for you.
Phytobezoars are caused by the concretion of indigestible vegetable fibres, usually in postgastrectomy (stomach removal) or diabetic patients. Orange segments are a common culprit. Improper chewing of food, often due to poorly-fitting dentures, can also be a contributing factor. Persimmons predispose to this condition, and there have been epidemics of persimmon bezoars in regions where the fruit is common.
Bezoars are treated in a variety of ways. Some are removed endoscopically, others are dissolved with enzymes (one case in the literature used Adolph's Meat Tenderizer with success), and others require surgery.
This is a condition where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound - or ten - of cure.
uhm...wow...thanks for that...I think!
Posted by: Sheri | Monday, November 26, 2007 at 04:02 PM
morbidly fascinating! wouldn't that make a neat ornament on your mantle..
Posted by: Diana | Monday, November 26, 2007 at 05:41 PM
Yes, draped with little white Christmas lights.
Posted by: Martina | Monday, November 26, 2007 at 05:47 PM
tee hee. i love it!
Posted by: Diana | Monday, November 26, 2007 at 06:54 PM
I was away for awhile but I heard about the "hairball". My uncle commented on my yarn while I was crocheting, stating that the ball of yarn closely resembled the hairball in the story. Nice.
Scarf anyone?
Posted by: Celeste | Monday, November 26, 2007 at 06:58 PM
Hi Saskia,
You are definitely one of the CUTEST students I have ever taught! I miss you and I love working with your Auntie Di. Hope to see you again one day.
p.s. Martina, I hope you don't mind Diana giving me the info for the blog. It's great!
Posted by: Karen Kwong | Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 12:07 AM
Thanks, Martina, you've forever ruined persimmons for me!
Posted by: Chandra | Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 05:34 AM
My 3-year-old niece eats her hair. I sent this link to her parents to prepare them for this possibility in 15 years.
Posted by: Lynn | Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 09:29 AM
other than ruining the "fairtale" for me that was fantastic.
As a teen I shied away from becoming a doctor due to my inability to deal with the sight of blood (and homework) but had I known the wealth of stories I could have told after a day in the OR perhaps I would have reconsidered.
Ps. Are you familiar with the "tree man"? Another fascinating medical story.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/12/wtree112.xml
Posted by: kurt | Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 10:14 AM
Karen, I passed your message on to Saskia and she said to tell you you're one of the nicest teachers she's ever had.
Posted by: Martina | Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 10:04 PM
No, I wasn't familiar with Tree Man. But you might be seeing him here soon - thanks!
Posted by: Martina | Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 10:05 PM