A British teenager reportedly died earlier this month due to a condition called trichophagia, the compulsive eating of hair. Also known as "Rapunzel syndrome," trichophagia is an impulse control disorder associated with trichotillomania, another impulse control disorder that gives sufferers the urge to pull out their own hair.
Local paper Lincolnshire Live reported that a growing hairball inside 16-year-old Jasmine Beever's stomach led to inflammation of the inner wall of her abdomen. This in turn allegedly led to a stomach ulcer, or sore in the stomach lining, that burst and caused eventually fatal organ damage.
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Beever's close friend Billie Jo Ashwell, who called Beever a "wonderful, caring girl," is now raising money to support Beever's family in the wake of the tragedy. "Jasmine was amazing. She was one of those kids where she would make a sad face in the room smile. She was so bubbly," Ashwell's mother, Donna Marshall, told Lincolnshire Live. "She was such a darling. I am going to miss her terribly. We are all in shock."
The principal at Beever's former school, Skegness Academy, had equally kind words to say about the teen. "The Academy community were shocked and stunned to learn on Friday of the death of Jasmine Beever," Jo Edwards said to Lincolnshire Live. "We will remember her as a friendly, positive, caring and lively girl who brought a smile to everyone’s face."
While tricophagia can have deadly consequences, the U.K.'s National Health Service reports it can also lead to vomiting, stomach pain, and stomach bleeding. Patients who develop hairballs from ongoing hair ingestion may require surgical intervention. Research on both trichophagia and trichotillomania is limited, but treatment options such as therapy and medication are available. Both of these impulse control disorders are linked to mental illnesses including anxiety and depression, and treating these can help people manage other conditions.
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