Chewing And Swallowing Hair Is A Dangerous Habit
Question: Our daughter is hyperactive and has been diagnosed with ADHD and Tourette Syndrome. For many years, she has the habit of playing with her hair. Sometimes I see her chews the hair, although I cannot tell whether she swallows any or not. Lately my friend told me that hair swallowed into the stomach can cause serious health problem. Is it true? What can I do to discourage her from doing that?
Answer:
Your friend is absolutely right. Swallowing hair can be a serious problem. I will explain to you in more detail here.
Children and adults with Tourette Syndrome have obsessive compulsive tendencies. Playing with hair and chewing it is just one of the obsessive compulsive behaviours. However, there are others who have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) without any of the other characteristics of Tourette Syndrome.
It is important to emphasize here that not everyone who plays with, or chews their hair, has obsessive compulsive disorder. This habit is fairly common in children and some adults. The significance of this habit has to be taken into account with other behaviours of these individuals.
Some children play with their hair and put it in their mouth. Others actually pluck individual hair from their scalp (a condition called trichotillomania) and then chew on it. They often pull hair from the same area on their scalp, leaving a bald spot called “alopecia areata.”
Whenever a child puts hair inside the mouth and chews, there is always a chance that some hair will be swallowed into the stomach. If this habit continues for an extended period of time, the pieces of hair that are swallowed can accumulate inside the stomach. Our stomach juice cannot digest hair, although it can digest almost anything else.
When enough hairs accumulate in the stomach, they get tangled up to form a hair ball. This hair ball may not bother the person, especially if it is small. However, when the hair ball grows in size over years, it can cause irritation of the stomach, producing symptoms like abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting.
Unfortunately, these symptoms are very vague and non-specific. Doctors presented with these symptoms alone, without the history of chewing and swallowing hair, may pass off the symptoms as common intestinal ailment like gastroenteritis.
The only way to tell whether a hair ball is the cause of abdominal symptoms is to do some tests. An special X-ray of the stomach after drinking a whitish chalky liquid called Barium can show the presence of a “defect” in the stomach because of the hair ball.
Another test is to insert a flexible tube, called gastroscope, through the mouth into the stomach. At one end of this tube is a lens that will allow the doctor to see inside the stomach. This is probably the best way to detect a hair ball.
If the hair ball is small, it can be removed through the gastroscope. However, surgery may be necessary if the ball is too large in size.
As you can see, chewing and swallowing hair is really not a minor nuisance. It can produce major health problem that may result in surgery. Therefore it is best to prevent this from happening.
You should begin by discouraging your daughter from chewing her hair. If this is because the hair is long and it is easy to get into her mouth, try to trim it to a shorter length. Another alternative is to tie the hair into a pony tail.
However, if you see that she actually pulls her hair off to chew, then it is a more serious problem. This can result in bald spots that other children may tease her. Since she has been diagnosed to have Tourette Syndrome, you can go to your doctor and discuss about this behaviour. Sometimes treatment of Tourette Syndrome can reduce the obsessive urge to pull and chew hair.
I should mention here that people with the habit of chewing may put other things into their mouth. This can include pieces of plastic, which is just a dangerous as hair. Plastic is totally resistant to digestion, and can form a ball inside the stomach with the same consequences.
If you really cannot discourage your daughter from chewing her hair, you can give her alternative things to chew. Chewing gum can be a good choice. The risk of chewing gum is a lot smaller. Because of the nature and shape of chewing gum, it tends to pass right through the stomach and intestines, and come out as part of the stool. We are lucky that we are not living in Singapore. Chewing gum is prohibited in that country!
I hope I have answered your question without causing excessive alarm. You have to be watchful of her habits and behaviour.