WEIRD SCIENCE

Grimm tale behind girl’s stomach pain

RAPUNZEL syndrome, despite its name, is no fairy tale.

The condition often occurs when patients already suffer with the psychiatric disorder trichophagia, which causes them to compulsively pull out and eat their own hair.

After a number of years it forms into large clumps that can trigger potentially fatal abdominal problems.

One young girl in Morocco, as reported in the British Medical Journal earlier this year, was admitted to hospital with extreme stomach pain, vomiting and an inflamed pancreas. But as with most Rapunzel syndrome cases, she recovered after surgery to remove the hairball.