[legacyb4]

Doctors remove leech from woman's nose

HONG KONG Apr 8, 2005 — Doctors have removed a leech from the nose of a 55-year-old Hong Kong woman after she swam and washed her face in a stream, a medical journal reported.

The woman went to her doctor complaining of nose bleeds and an occasional sensation that something was blocking her left nostril, the Hong Kong Medical Journal said in its April issue. Her family doctor noticed a "brownish mass" in her nostril but couldn't remove it because of heavy bleeding, the journal said.

The patient was taken to the emergency room, where doctors identified the problem as a bloodsucking leech. They had trouble pulling it out because the 2 inch invertebrate retracted into the nostril and disappeared, the journal said.

Part of the slimy leech was in a passage of her nasal cavity and a larger segment was in her sinus cavity, the article said.

Doctors used a nasal spray to anesthetize the dark brown leech that had a sucker on the front part of its body. "After two minutes, the leech moved slowly out of the antrum (sinus) and was retrieved with forceps," the journal said.

The woman said that one month before her symptoms developed, she swam and washed her face in a stream while hiking. Doctors checked other members of her hiking group and found another leech in the nose of a man who washed his face in the stream, the journal said.

The article said the leech could have caused suffocation if it moved into the patients' larynx, or voice box.

[nredman]

gross...that just freaks me out...makes me want to run around screaming

[demograph68]

It could be worse. You could have a maggot grow in your eyelid.

[RonnieoftheRose]

That sucks.

[mdc]

Originally posted by nredman:
gross...that just freaks me out...makes me want to run around screaming

*exactly*
oh god i feel sick now.

They had trouble pulling it out because the 2 inch invertebrate retracted into the nostril and disappeared, the journal said.

that's horrific.

[storer]

Originally posted by demograph68:
It could be worse. You could have a maggot grow in your eyelid.

[img snipped]

For 1/2 a second that image didn't look like an eyelid...

[nerd]

Originally posted by demograph68:
It could be worse. You could have a maggot grow in your eyelid.

Is that for real? Can that really happen?

[SimpleLife]

OMG!

Before:


After:

[Dimethyltrypt]

what sucks even more are worms in your brain. you don't wanna have that.

[wdlove]

Very scary, just glad that she is alright.

[sugar_coated]

the leech knows not the difference between within a nose or without.

[olePigeon]

Originally posted by nerd:
Is that for real? Can that really happen?

Yes. Probably a Human Botfly. It lays its eggs under the skin and the maggot grows there. After a while you grow a pustule and it eats its way out.

[SimpleLife]

Originally posted by olePigeon:
Yes. Probably a Human Botfly. It lays its eggs under the skin and the maggot grows there. After a while you grow a pustule and it eats its way out.

I have an Aunt (a catholic missionary) who got something similar (but from Africa) who got injected one night by some bug. A few months later she had some sort of little spiders coming out of her body. They had to evacuate her and put her in an isolation chamber for a month. People allowed to visit her had to wear a containment suit.

[TailsToo]

I had a tick stuck in my arm once, but nothing as gross as the other two! Ewww!!!!