Trichobezoar. A rare cause of recurrent upper abdominal pain]

Recurrent abdominal pain in a two years old toddler and a sixteen years old girl were caused by huge trichobezoars, which in one case had a weight of 412 g and provoked a gastric ulcus. Removal was possible only by gastrotomy. Deprivation in infancy and childhood in combination with slight mental retardation had led the teenager to trichtillomania and -phagia for years and finally to a bezoar. A short historic survey of the variety and therapy of bezoars is added.