AKIPRESS.COM - A teenager in India has had an 18cm “tail” removed from his lower back after hiding the unusual growth for his whole life.

A team of neurosurgeons operated on the 18-year-old on Sunday and removed what they say is the longest recorded growth of its type, the Asian Age reports.

Dr Pramod Giri, who headed the surgery, said the boy was born with the condition but he and his family had hidden it from others because of fears over the social stigma attached to it. Over the years it continued to grow.

“When it became very painful for the boy, his parents brought him to hospital,” Dr Giri was quoted by the Asian Age as saying.

“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.”

All growing babies in utero have what is known as a vestigial tail, but it normally disappears as the spine and nervous system develop.

“This case is very rare and calls for a presentation in a medical journal as the tail is apparently the longest recorded so far,” Dr Giri said.