This 52-year-old smoker suffered from rare hair growth inside throat, here's what we know

We all know smoking is bad for your health, but somehow that usually does not have an impact. While some people quit because packs are getting too expensive, or because of a health scare, there are still millions of smokers all over the world.

Well, after this particular story, you might want to think twice before picking up your next cigarette!

This man was growing hair in his throat

In June 2024, a particularly disturbing case was reported in the American Journal of Case Reports. Indeed, a 52-year-old Austrian man, who was smoking at least one pack a day, started growing literal hair in his throat. He first visited his doctor's office in 2007, about seventeen years after he started smoking. He had a hoarse voice, difficulty breathing and a chronic cough. A scan showed that he had several hairs located in his throat, which had previously been operated on. He was diagnosed with endotracheal hair growth.

He needed surgery to save his life

When he was only 10, the man almost drowned, which led him to be hooked to a ventilator. This procedure left some damage in his throat, which surgeons repaired with a skin graft from his ear. This previous operation is thought to have heightened the chances of him growing hair in his throat, as the area is exactly the one where the hair grows.

At first, doctors were able to pluck the hairs to relieve the patient, but they kept growing back. For fourteen years, he went to the hospital every year so the doctors could remove the hairs. He was also on a lot of antibiotics because the hairs were covered in bacteria. Each time, doctors removed two to six 2-inch hairs from the man's throat that weregoing through his voice box or growing into his mouth.

The man finally quit smoking in 2022, and the hair stopped growing. Doctors performed an endoscopic argon plasma coagulation, which means they burned the hairs right up to the root, to stop it from growing again. He had a second coagulation a few months later, and is now hair-free, in his throat at least!

Hair growth in the throat is extremely rare, in fact the man's doctors claimed it was only the second case they have ever witnessed, and because it is so rare, there is still no scientific explanation to point out an exact cause. In this man's case, doctors believe his smoking triggered the condition. They said:

These findings may support our hypothesis that the smoking habits in the presented case may have induced and stimulated endotracheal hair growth. Of course, this assumption cannot be proven due to the rarity of such cases.

Read more:

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Sources used:

American Journal of Case Reports: Smoking-Associated Endotracheal Hair Growth: A Case Report on Tracheal Complications

New York Post: Bizarre smoking side effect revealed in unusual case study