Grisly find in woman's nose

Mail and Guardian Online ^ | 08APR2005 | Sapa-AP-Hong Kong

[QwertyKPH]

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 nosebleeds 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 5cm-long 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 anaesthetise 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 patient's larynx, or voice box. -- Sapa-AP

[Right Wing Assault]

Wouldn't if be fun if she sneezed and the thing came flying out?

[paul51]

Maybe a self portrait

[QwertyKPH]

OK

for those of you who need pictures, check this out:

Click Here:

[Feiny]

LEECH!!!!

[umbagi]

I wonder why they didn't burb the thing to make it let go?

They just stuned it with nasal spray -- no need to burb it.

[This Just In]

Which is it? A Grisly bear or a leech?

[Feiny]

The LEECH on ROBIN LEACH

[Right Wing Assault]

OK, nice sostrils. Which ones have leeches?

[armymarinemom]

They coulda just stuned it. Seriesly. That woulda scarmabled it I am sure!

They still use these things on graft patients although the are raised in a sterile environment. They turn loose when they are full and can be burped in order for them to be reused more often. When you burp them they can't suck while they purge. Yeah, they are gross.

[Feiny]

You typed burp, purge & suck in the same sentence....how often does that happen?

[Right Wing Assault]

I had a leech on my beeber once.

[QwertyKPH]

I dunno. Just wasting your time!

[savedbygrace]

I got it now: The saliva of leeches contains an anesthetic and a blood thinner. And they have razor-sharp teeth. What a combination.

[QwertyKPH]

Ha!

[armymarinemom]

You typed burp, purge & suck in the same sentence....how often does that happen?

Probably more often than we would like to think in the Clinton White House.

[Right Wing Assault]

"Just wasting your time!"

I'm wasting my time, too. We're on a mission!

[digger48]

Suck the lemon, shoot down the tequila, and snort the salt.

[blue-duncan]

The same reason you don't feel leeches in your paycheck. You get use to the parasites.

[maine-iac7]

What you said!

[Godebert]

I'll top that. Here are a couple of the critters that got into a duck's sinus:

I hope you didn't just eat dinner.