Neurosurgeons surgically remove 20-centimetre tail of 18-year-old Indian boy

Indian neurosurgeons from the Super Specialty Hospital in India surgically removed a 20-centimetre tail from an Indian boy from Nagpur which grew to that length over the past four years. Doctors say the tail likely developed in the mother’s womb because of a neural tube deformity, but it came out only later when the patient, now 18, was 14.

For years, the teen’s parents ignored the tail because they fear public attention would be drawn to their son’s condition. The mother says the boy was normal and no tail was noticed by doctors during his routine check-ups as a boy, News.com.au reports.

However, at 14, the tail grew outside her son’s body which required lifting it every time the boy needed to change clothes. He was very annoyed and it was painful which led the mother to bring him to a hospital.

But Pramod Giri, head of the hospital’s neurosurgery department and the surgical team, belies the mother’s claim. He says the family was aware of the unusual growth but did not consult a doctor right away because of social stigma and superstition attached to the tail.

He is not the first Indian with the condition. There is another YouTube video posted in 2014 of Arshid Ali Khan, a 13-year-old boy in Punjab with a seven-inch tail. The boy is worshiped by locals out of belief he is a reincarnation of the Hindu monkey god, Hanuman, but he was then considering having it removed.

The tail of the 18-year-old boy had started to develop a bone inside, BBC reports. His tail is the longest ever recorded on a human, indicating there have been similar – although rare – instances.

Giri says the tail started to press on the patient’s back which became cosmetically and psychologically disturbing for him. Removing a tail is easily done surgically, but neurosurgeons need to be careful because it is connected to the spinal column. He says after observing the boy for a few days, he can return home minus the tail.

In March, a more complicated case was handled by Bangladeshi doctors who started a series of surgeries on a man with bark-like warts from the man’s right hand. But it would take more surgeries as the warts are all over his body which caused the patient to be called a “Tree Man.”

VIDEO: Indian boy as a TAIL that measures 18 cm

Source: 624859