Man in Austria allegedly grows ‘beard’ inside throat after smoking for 30 years

Man in Austria allegedly grows ‘beard’ inside throat

A 52-year-old man in Austria was found with hair growing inside his throat after smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for 30 years.

Doctors were able to remove the hairs, but they continued to grow back over the next 14 years.

It was only when the man had stopped smoking and the doctors burned the root of the hairs that the growth stopped.

According to doctors, the man had a rare condition that was triggered by smoking.

Grows beard inside throat for 14 years

The man, who started smoking when he was 20 years old, sought medical help for a hoarse voice, difficulty breathing, and a persistent cough in 2007, reported Daily Mail. He also mentioned that he had once coughed up hair.

Using a small camera, doctors examined his throat and discovered several hairs growing there.

There were six to nine two-inch hairs, some of which had even reached his mouth.

The man further reported that the condition started 16 years after he began smoking.

Although the doctors were able to remove the hairs, the patient regularly returned to the hospital as they continued to grow back for the next 14 years.

Doctors burned the root of hair growth

The doctors did not want to perform the procedure that would cure the man of the condition until he had quit smoking.

When he finally quit in 2020, they performed an endoscopic argon plasma coagulation, a procedure which burned the roots of the hairs to prevent them from growing back.

A year after the procedure, two hairs grew back in his throat, which required another coagulation.

Since then, no hairs have regrown inside the man’s throat.

Condition caused by smoking

According to doctors, the man suffered from endotracheal hair growth, a condition where hair grows in the throat.

The condition is so rare that this was only the second instance of its kind.

The exact causes of the condition are unclear, but doctors believe the man’s case was triggered by smoking.

However, doctors also noted that the patient had undergone a procedure after a drowning incident at age 10 during which skin from his ear was transplanted into his throat, potentially leading to this bizarre hair growth.

Also read: 6-year-old girl in the US dies after broken badminton racquet pierces her skull

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Featured image adapted from Daily Mail