On 25/8, Ca Mau Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital reported that a 5-year-old girl was admitted after her family noticed she had not had a bowel movement for three days. Diagnostic tests and imaging confirmed a hairball obstructing her digestive tract.

Following successful surgery to remove the obstruction, the girl's condition stabilized. She has resumed eating, and her digestive functions have returned to normal.

The hairball weighing 250 g. *Photo: Hospital provided.*

Doctor Le Van Khen, Head of Surgery, explained that while adults often dismiss the habit of pulling, sucking, or eating hair in children as a minor behavior, prolonged engagement can lead to serious health consequences.

Hair accumulates over time, forming a mass in the stomach that can extend into the intestines. Undetected and untreated, this can lead to abdominal pain, loss of appetite, vomiting, constipation, anemia, malnutrition, intestinal obstruction, and other severe digestive complications.

Doctors urge families to monitor children who frequently pull, suck, or eat hair. Medical consultation is recommended if any unusual digestive symptoms arise.

Chuc Ly