An Ohio man who lost his nose ring five years ago discovered that the object was stuck in his lung.
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Joey Lykins, 35, was concerned about his health last month after experiencing a severe cough and rushed to an emergency room. At first, doctors assumed he was suffering from pneumonia due to his symptoms, but X-rays showed that his nose ring was lodged into the lung’s upper left lobe, as Daily Mail reported.
Lykins said he recalled that he might have inhaled the piercing jewelry while he slept and woke to find it missing. Doctors claimed they were unsure why the jewelry triggered the severe cough recently but noted that the scar tissue surrounding the ring could’ve grown too large.
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Doctors performed a bronchoscopy, a procedure where a pipe is slowly passed down the patient’s throat and placed into the infected lung. The pipe is latched onto the object and is pulled up to remove it slowly. Lykins said he plans to keep the piercing jewelry as a souvenir and is glad that the small object didn’t severely injure his lung.
‘I’m glad it didn’t puncture my lung. It had never caused me problems, I’ve coughed, but I never thought too much of it. I didn’t know what was going on, but I never though that was what it was. I’ve never heard of it happening before.’
Doctors also said Lykins didn’t have any complications during the surgery.
Social media reacts to the case, some are still perplexed by the nose ring stuck in the lung.
There were various reactions to the medical case people wondered how the jewelry could remain inside for years. Others said it reaffirmed their decision not to get a nose piercing.