Prague, Czech Republic:

A Czech hospital said on Tuesday that surgeons had removed a beer mug-sized mass of hair from the abdomen of a girl suffering from an extremely rare hair-eating disorder.

The 11-year-old has Rapunzel syndrome, a condition first reported in 1968 with only a few dozen cases documented worldwide.

It’s named after a girl with very long hair from a Brothers Grimm story that inspired the 2010 Disney blockbuster “Tangled.”

“The disease is linked to so-called trichotillomania and trichophagia, which is hair pulling and eating,” said Matus Peteja, chief surgeon at the Silesian Hospital in the eastern Czech city of Opava.

He said the syndrome primarily affected girls from childhood through adulthood.

The cylindrical tuft, which was 20 centimeters long and 8 centimeters in diameter, was too large to remove through the girl’s mouth.

The doctors therefore had to remove it surgically.

“If we hadn’t removed it, the girl would be in pain and gradually lose weight. In an extreme case, it could damage and perforate the stomach lining,” Dr. Peteja to AFP.

He added that the girl, who is now doing well, would undergo psychiatric and psychological treatment.

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