New Delhi, Sept. 4 -- Doctors at Manipal Hospital Dwarka in Delhi successfully removed a giant 1.16-kg, J-shaped hairball from the stomach of a 20-year-old female student who had been consuming strands of her own hair for nearly 11 years, a behaviour medically known as trichophagia.

According to a press release, the rare trichobezoar -- a compact mass of swallowed hair -- had occupied a major portion of the patient's stomach and extended from the junction of the food pipe and stomach to the beginning of the small intestine. The condition caused severe gastric distension and required a multi-step approach for complete removal.

The patient was brought to the hospital after experiencing severe abdominal pain, nausea and repeated vomiting f...