Man's Quest to Kill Roach in His Ear Has Unfortunate Result

A doctor ended up needing to pull it out
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 9, 2017 8:00 AM CST
Doctor Yanks Unwelcome Guest From Man's Ear
In this 2005 photo released by the Wildlife Conservation Society, a Madagascar hissing cockroach (not the roach in question) crawls on some bark at the Bronx Zoo in New York.   (AP Photo/WCS, Julie Larsen Maher)

If you can bear it, we offer what Newsflare aptly describes as some "rather unpleasant footage" for your viewing displeasure—the type you won't want to see, can't help but see, and won't be able to unsee. It's video filmed last week that shows a doctor in China pulling a cockroach from deep within a man's ear after it had burrowed in there nearly three days earlier, UPI reports. The roach had apparently nestled into its new home while the 60-year-old man from Chengdu in Sichuan province was snoozing, and although he'd tried tweezers and toothpicks to extract it, the pest remained embedded, per the Straits Times.

The man finally resorted to blasting insecticide into his ear, which solved the secondary problem of killing the roach, but not the primary one of getting it out. His inner ear swelled up from the effects of the pesticide and other irritation, trapping the dead roach, which turned out to be nearly a half-inch long. A doctor at the hospital where the man was treated says roaches seeking warmth during colder weather often pick human ears as their nesting place. If that happens, the doctor adds, patients should drip some olive oil, not insecticide, in the ear to asphyxiate the insect. The unlucky host may then still need a doctor to get it out. (A roach ended up on a woman's skull.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X