Rare side effect

Smoker from Upper Austria grew hair in his throat

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Adobe/taramara78 American Journal of Case Reports)

Smoking can have many terrible side effects - but the one experienced by an Upper Austrian man really amazed the doctors: hair grew in the patient's windpipe. This was noticed when he coughed up a five-centimeter-long hair.

Will this creepy, albeit rare, side effect of tobacco soon be printed as a warning on cigarette packets? These pictures taken by doctors from Linz of a patient's windpipe certainly have the potential to scare people off. Hair several centimeters long was growing in his throat. Not surprisingly, this had caused the man problems.

"We suspect that the onset of hair growth was triggered by the patient's cigarette smoking," the research team explained to the "American Journal of Case Reports". The 52-year-old had smoked for 32 years.

The hairs that grew in his windpipe were up to five centimeters long.(Bild: American Journal of Case Reports)

Five-centimeter hair spit out after coughing fit
He first went to the doctors with complaints in 2006. He suffered from hoarseness, shortness of breath at night and a chronic cough. After one of these coughing fits, he spat out a five-centimeter-long hair - which was followed by extensive examinations. 

The problems were caused by an accident involving the Austrian: As a ten-year-old, he almost drowned and his larynx was injured during his rescue. The boy needed a tracheotomy, which could only be closed again after 3.5 years. He then suffered from a bacterial infection, which also caused tissue to die. This was followed by an ear cartilage and skin transplant. 

A computer tomography image of the patient: In 2006, the doctors also discovered a narrowing of the tracheal wall (red arrows).(Bild: American Journal of Case Reports)

Additional plaques and scabs found in the neck
It was precisely in this area affected by the transplant that the hair had grown after many years. The doctors also found inflammation of the trachea, plaques and scabs. The hair was plucked out and the plaques and scabs removed. The patient was treated with antibiotics and fungicidal medication. After a few weeks, his health had improved significantly. The medication could be discontinued. 

Hair continued to grow into the oral cavity
But hair growth was still a problem. "Six to nine endotracheal hairs with a length of up to five centimetres were repeatedly removed," the doctors reported. Some had even grown over the vocal cords and reached the oral cavity. The patient had to have these plucked regularly - after some time, plaques and scabs also returned. 

Hair roots sclerosed by heat treatment
The doctors finally used the argon plasma coagulation procedure - which is also used to stop bleeding by generating heat, for example. The hair roots were finally successfully cauterized using this method, which required several applications.

Stopping smoking during transplantation "of crucial importance"
Changes in smoking habits are also said to have helped: "Remarkably, in the patient presented in this case, extra- and intrathoracic airflow also improved significantly after the patient stopped smoking," the researchers noted. Therefore, smoking cessation in patients "receiving skin/cartilage grafts in the airway is likely to be crucial," they concluded.