(Web Desk) - After not being able to poo for 22 years, a man from China has had major surgery to remove facaes that had been accumulating since birth.
An anonymous patient said he had constipation all his life with laxatives not even able to help, and he eventually got medical attention.
When he first saw his patient, Dr Yin Lu, from 10th People's Hospital of Shanghai, said his patient looked 'more than nine months pregnant'.
The patient told The Paper that because his family did not give much thought to his symptoms, he thought himself it 'was not a big deal'
But 30 inches of the patient's colon had to be removed, which weighed around 29lb, during three-hour surgery in 2017 after it was found a lifetime's worth of faeces had built up.
The patient was then reportedly diagnosed with Hirschsrpung's disease, which is thought to only affect one in every 5,000 live births.
Hirschsrpung's disease is a rare condition that causes poo to become stuck in the bowels and is mainly diagnosed in babies and young children, according to the NHS.
The NHS website says: "Normally the bowel continuously squeezes and relaxes to push poo along, a process controlled by your nervous system.
"In Hirschsprung's disease, the nerves that control this movement are missing from a section at the end of the bowel, which means poo can build up and form a blockage.
"This can cause severe constipation and sometimes lead to a serious bowel infection."
Symptoms are noticeable shortly after birth usually, but sometimes are not obvious until a child is older.
Signs in a baby include failing to pass meconium within 48 hours, which is the dark, tar-like poo that healthy babies pass soon after being born, a swollen belly and vomiting green or yellow-green fluid known as bile.
Signs in older infants and children can include a swollen belly, vomiting or stomach ache, persistent constipation that doesn't get better with usual treatments and not feeding well or failing to gain weight.