Melissa Williams is a 15-year-old girl who was only 13 when she was taken to the hospital after being unable to keep food down in her body. Doctors at the hospital found a rugby ball-sized hair lump in her stomach. They had to cut the big hairball weighing 3 kg into 4 pieces to take it out.
According to reports, Melissa had been eating her own hair to handle anxiety and bullying. It is a condition called Rapunzel syndrome. Her parents Jackie Williams (42) and Gary Jones (50) were unaware of her condition.
Melissa's mother said that Melissa was very withdrawn and wasn't socializing with friends. Then she observed that her daughter’s hair was getting shorter and shorter. Jackie said that Melissa ended up staying off school because it wasn't just one person, it was the whole class bullying her.
Melissa’s mother also said that Melissa had lost a lot of weight and she initially thought that Melissa had an eating disorder. But, Melissa said to her Mum that it just hurts when she eats, and she feels like food is stuck in her throat. Melissa’s mother Jackie took Melissa to the hospital when she began complaining about the pain.
Melissa was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, where the doctors found a big lump in her stomach in September 2021. The doctors also discovered that Melissa had Trichotillomania.
Trichotillomania is also called hair-pulling disorder. It is a mental health condition that involves frequent, repeated, and irresistible urges to pull out hair from the scalp, eyebrows, or other areas of the body.
Melissa’s father Gary said that they found odd clumps of hair in her room. They mentioned that to her and that is when she said she had been eating it. Melissa had an operation in October 2021, at Alder Hey Hospital and had to stay in the hospital for three weeks because she got four infections. Now, Melissa is getting aid from her school and special doctors to cope with her worries.
Melissa’s mother Jackie said that she took her daughter to the hospital when she began complaining about the pain. Melissa had been eating her hair for two to three years but they were unaware of her condition until it worsened. If they hadn't taken her daughter when they did Melissa would not have made it, it was that serious. The doctors surgically removed a rugby ball-sized hair lump weighing 3 kg. They had to cut it into 4 pieces to get it out and it had to be lifted out with two hands Jackie expressed.
According to the sources from Liverpool Echo, after two years, 15-year-old Melissa’s hair is growing back beautifully and she started taking her GCSEs. Jackie said that it's nice to see how much her daughter has grown, and it's nice to see her with long hair.
References:
1. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/trichotillomania/symptoms-causes/syc-20355188
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina/MSM)
