Doctors at Hung Vuong Gia Lai Hospital in Vietnam’s Central Highlands have removed a hairball which is 12 centimeters long from the stomach of a four-year-old girl who had been eating her own hair, the hospital reported on Monday.

The child patient, N.P.H.A., residing in Chu Se District, Gia Lai Province, was hospitalized with the symptoms of stomachache, appetite loss, abdominal bloating, and indigestion.

Her parents said that she had a habit of swallowing her hair.

After a check, doctors decided to cut open her stomach to remove the solid clump of hair that weighs over 200 grams and measures 12 centimeters long, 10 centimeters wide, and three centimeters high.

The child is stable now and showed no postoperative side effects.

Doctors at Hung Vuong Gia Lai Hospital asked the family to pay more attention to the child to stop her habit of swallowing hair.

The family should also let the child undertake medications and psychotherapy.

According to doctor Dang Thanh Hai, deputy director of Hung Vuong Gia Lai Hospital, the girl suffered Rapunzel syndrome, which is an extremely rare intestinal condition in humans resulting from ingesting hair.

The syndrome is named after the long-haired girl Rapunzel in the eponymous fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.

As hair cannot be digested, it piles up in the stomach or small intestine. The disease is often seen in children aged between four and 17.

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