Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-dvmhs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-06T21:06:05.566Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trichotillomania with trichobezoar in 11-year-old girl - difficulties of recognizing the disorder and possible complications: case report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2023

A. Klobučar ,
L. T. Dobrić ,
S. Drmić  and
Z. Mišak
A. Klobučar*
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital Zagreb
L. T. Dobrić
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital Zagreb
S. Drmić
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Referral Centre for the Stress-related Disorders, University Hospital Dubrava
Z. Mišak
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Children’s Hospital Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Introduction

Trichobezoar is a rare entity that primarily occurs as a complication of psychiatric disorders, most often in adolescent and young females suffering from trichotillomania (TTM) and trichophagia. In many cases, children with TTM unwillingly admit hair pulling, deny ingesting hair and often feel ashamed of their disease and try to hide it.

Objectives

Our main aim was to present an uncommon complication of TTM and trichophagia and to point out the importance of early diagnosis and prevention of complications of the disorder. Furthermore, we describe the role of a child’s psychological features and family dynamics in etiopathogenesis of TTM, as well as comorbidities and specific clinical presentation.

Methods

Case report.

Results

An 11-year-old girl was admitted to the pediatric department due to abdominal pain. After detailed pediatric differential diagnosis, trichobezoar was diagnosed and she was treated surgically. While she did not deny ingesting her hair, three months after surgery (TTM was dermatologically verified from the beginning of the treatment) she mentioned focused hair pulling for the first time. During individual cognitive behavioral psychotherapy the following was recognized in the patient: perfectionism traits, inhibition in expressing emotions, elements of depression, anxiety. During family psychotherapy elements of alexithymia were observed.

Conclusions

Cooperation among medical experts (pediatrician, dermatologist, child psychiatrist, pediatric surgeon etc.) and awareness of this disorder is important for recognizing it at an early stage and starting the treatment, especially considering habit-forming mechanism, psychiatric comorbidity, emotional distress and preventing other complications including trichobezoars.

Keywords

adolescents, trichobezoar, trichophagia, trichotillomania

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared

Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 66 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 31st European Congress of Psychiatry , March 2023 , pp. S714
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.