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In a rare medical case reported in June, a 52-year-old Austrian man who suffered from throat discomfort ended up coughing up centimeter-long hairs, a side effect that doctors linked to his 30 years of smoking.
Coughing and spitting out hairs several centimetres long is not exactly sexy. However, this is the astonishing misadventure experienced by a 52-year-old Austrian, reported in The American Journal of Case Reporton June 18th.
Inflammation found in throat
Since 2007, the man has been consulting regularly for an uncomfortable sensation in his throat. He also suffers from a hoarse voice, a cough and breathing difficulties. Nothing very surprising so far, since the patient has been a smoker since he was 20. At the time, he also remembers having spat out a 5 cm hair. And 18 years later, the thing recurred.
Doctors then examined his airways using a small camera and noted inflammation as well as the presence of several hairs in his throat.
It is also reported that the man had undergone a tracheotomy as a child after drowning. This wound was then closed with an autograft of skin and ear cartilage.
Tobacco is the subject of this special case.
For doctors the discovery is astonishing: “The hairs grew in a proximal direction, sometimes extending beyond the vocal cords, reaching the oral cavity. In recent years, the proximal trachea was increasingly covered with fibrinous plaques and crusted debris, and the bronchial system was obstructed by mucus, which was resolved by bronchoscopy.” note the authors.
But according to them, this strangeness would be linked to the pronounced smoking of the patient who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 31 years. He was therefore asked to stop this bad habit.
“Cigarette smoke has the ability to alter signaling pathways in respiratory epithelial cells that are simultaneously linked to proliferation of hair follicles. Therefore, smoking cessation is probably essential in patients receiving skin/cartilage grafts into the respiratory system.”.
Doctors also burned the hair cells in his throat in 2022, to prevent hair from growing back. A double decision that worked: the patient has not coughed up any unsightly hairs since.
Slide: The harmful effects of cigarettes