A Vietnamese man, grappling with chronic headaches and vision loss for five long months, recently unraveled the mystery behind his ailments—a pair of chopsticks nestled in his skull. The specifics of how these chopsticks ended up lodged in his head remain a bit unclear, but the man speculates that they found their way there during a drunken altercation. In a twist of events, he sought emergency medical attention at the time, but the staff apparently overlooked the presence of the chopsticks.
From Oddity Central:
The unnamed man was recently admitted to the Cuba Friendship Hospital in the city of Dong Hoi, Vietnam’s Quang Binh province, after complaining of constant headaches, vision loss, and fluid discharge from his nose. When asked, the man revealed no possible cause for these symptoms, but a CT scan showed a tension pneumocephalus, the intracranial equivalent of a pneumothorax, as well as two foreign objects protruding from his nose into his brain. Upon thorough examination, the objects were identified as broken chopsticks…
Asked how the chopsticks might have found their way into his skull, the 35-year-old patient was initially as baffled as his doctors, but he later remembered an incident he had been involved in five months prior that could help explain his situation. While out drinking one night, the man got into a physical altercation and ended up in the emergency room. However, doctors there just patched him up and sent him on his way. Now, he assumes the other man stuck the chopsticks into his skull, through the nose, but he doesn’t remember actually happening.
After considering all the options, the medical team decided to perform endoscopic surgery through the nose, combined with microsurgery to close the patient’s cranial fistula and remove the pair of broken chopsticks. According to doctor Nguyen Van Man, Head of the Department of Neurosurgery at Cuba Friendship Hospital, choosing the optimal surgical method is critical to avoid leaving the patient with sequelae.
This story will forever serve as a reminder for myself to never have chopsticks too close by while getting in a drunken fist fight.
You never know, folks...
