⚠️ Intraoperative view of the trichobezoar and its extraction through a gastrotomy.
. Trichobezoar is a rare pathology in which swallowed hairs accumulate in the stomach. Large amounts can thus accumulate over the years forming a hair ball. The usual presentatation is with early satiety and malnutrition. The diagnosis may be suspected in young females with abdominal pain, epigastric mass and malnutrition, who have a history of trichophagia. A small trichobezoar can be treated using non-surgical methods, but large bezoars usually require open surgery. . The cause why hair is collected in the stomach is not fully understood. It is believed that hair entrapment in the gastric folds is the initiating event. Due to its indigestibility, resiliency and slippery nature, it becomes entrapped within the mucosal folds where it gets enmeshed, and acquires more hairs and thus a larger size.