Teenager with 'longest recorded' tail gets it removed

A teenage boy has had an eight-inch tail removed from his back after he and his parents hid the growth for years.

The 18-year-old from India went to hospital after the defect started to become painful, the Indian Expressreports.

Surgeons say the tail, which left the unnamed patient unable to sleep or sit properly, is the “longest recorded so far”.

Dr Pramod Giri, head of the neurosurgery department where the operation took place, said:

Generally, the defect is detected very early as it is present from birth and since it grows with age it cannot remain undetected. But the parents as well as the child hid the fact all these years. The defect can be surgically corrected within few months of birth.  When the size of the tail grew and a bone developed inside it, the tail began to press on the boy’s back. It was cosmetically and psychologically disturbing for him. Hence the parents approached us.

Doctors said the tail would have developed in the womb, but only appeared outside his body once he was a teenager.

According to the Mirror, his mother said:

I had been taking him to doctors for routine checkups but no one ever notified me about anything. My son was absolutely normal. It became a problem when the 'tail' grew outside the body- He would just lift the tail every time he needed to change his clothes. I could see that it was very annoying and painful for him so I finally took him to a hospital.

Human tails commonly cause a variety of problems, including loss of control of the bowel and bladder, as well as pain and potential loss of leg control.

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