Teen with 'Rapunzel Syndrome' has 7lb hairball removed from stomach

A teen with ‘Rapunzel Syndrome’ was rushed to surgery where doctors found a 7lb hairball the size of a rugby ball in her stomach.

Melissa Williams, 15, was just 13 when her parents noticed that she was unable to keep her food down.

Unbeknownst to her parents Jackie Williams, 42, and Gary Jones, 50, at the time, Melissa had been eating her own hair to deal with anxiety and bullying she was facing at school.

Eating your own hair is known as ‘Rapunzel Syndrome’ and is a form of trichobezoar and usually found in patients with mental health issues, similar to trichotillomania which is a hair pulling disorder.

The main symptoms of Rapunzel Syndrome are vomiting and stomach pain – and it can be fatal. In 2017, 16-year-old Jasmine Beever died after an infected hairball in her stomach caused an ulcer to develop which later burst.

However, doctors quickly discovered the hairball in Melissa’s stomach and performed surgery to remove it, by cutting it into four pieces.

"She was very withdrawn. She wasn’t socialising with friends and then I noticed that her hair was getting shorter and shorter," Melissa’s mum Jackie says.

"She ended up staying off school because it wasn’t just one person bullying her, it was the whole class. She had lost a lot of weight and I thought she had an eating disorder at the start. She said 'no mum it just hurts when I eat. I feel like food is stuck in my throat'.

"If we hadn’t taken her when we did she would not have made it. It was that serious."

At that point, the Liverpool school girl had been eating her own hair for two to three years, but her parents had no idea until her health deteriorated.

Following the surgery in October 2021, Melissa stayed in hospital for three weeks after battling four infections.

Two years on, Jackie says Melissa is “slowly getting better” and that she has been receiving help from her school, and from Child and Adolescents Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to learn to cope with her anxiety.

"Her hair has grown back beautifully," Jackie adds. "It’s just nice to see how far she’s come, now she’s looking forward to going to her prom which I never thought I’d get her to go to. She still pulls her hair and sucks on it.

"She'll always have it, it's a case of managing it."

Melissa has been working to raise awareness of Rapunzel Syndrome, and in November 2022 she won the Liverpool child of courage award. In September this year she will be going to college to study health and social care, and hopes to go on to be a nursery teacher.

"What helped Mel through was sharing her story as she felt she was really helping other people who are going through the same," Jackie adds.

"She felt that at the time she couldn’t tell anyone because she was too ashamed. It’s better to catch it early and get that early intervention. That could have avoided her going to surgery.

"It’s just knowing what your child is going through and checking with schools, because children do mask their emotions a lot."

Melissa says that she hopes that by sharing her story, other people with Rapunzel Syndrome won’t feel alone.

She adds: "What I would say is talk to someone you trust rather than hide and suffer in silence."

Additional reporting by SWNS.

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