Doctors Find Cockroach Living on Woman's Skull

They removed it—still alive—after nearly 12 hours
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 4, 2017 12:49 PM CST
Cockroach Climbs Up Woman's Nose, Hangs Out on Her Skull
Stock image   (Getty Images/mansum008)

Beware, this story is about to get real squicky. The Indian Express reports doctors in India pulled a live cockroach out of a woman's nose this week after it was discovered hanging out on her skull. The 42-year-old woman started suffering pain and a "tingling, crawling sensation" Tuesday night. According to the Times of India, she thought it was a cold at first. Instead it was—as Gizmodo describes it—a "living nightmare." It wasn't until the third hospital the woman visited Wednesday that doctors used a nasal endoscopy to find the source of the woman's discomfort: a large and very much alive cockroach resting on her skull in between her eyes.

Apparently, the cockroach had crawled up the woman's nose while she was sleeping and got stuck, unable to go any further or turn around the way it came, the Deccan Chronicle reports. Doctors initially tried to suction the cockroach out, but as one doctor put it: "It didn't seem to want to come out." They eventually had to use forceps to de-roach the woman's nasal passage. Video of the procedure can be found here for readers with the stomach for it. Shockingly, the cockroach, which had been inside the woman for nearly 12 hours, was still kicking after doctors removed it. Doctors say the roach could have put holes in the woman's brain had it traveled any further or caused a serious infection if it died. (This man had something wedged in his nose for 44 years.)

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