Indian woman accidentally sniffs nose piercing and has to undergo surgery | Bizarre

It is a tradition among Hindus in India for women to wear a nose clip after their wedding as a symbol of marital status. This is what happened to Varsha Sahu “16-17 years ago”. But two months ago things suddenly went wrong. “I didn’t realize the lock had come loose,” she told the BBC. “I was chatting, I took a deep breath and I inhaled it. I didn’t realize it was getting into my airways. I thought it was going to my stomach.”

A month after the incident, she went to the doctor complaining of a constant cough, shortness of breath and pain in her lungs. She thought the cause was a previous injury to her nose. Medication didn’t help and she went to a lung specialist. A CT scan and an X-ray revealed that the metal object was indeed lodged in her lung. After a failed keyhole operation with a bronchoscope (a viewing instrument for the lungs), a new attempt was made by another specialist. He made it clear to Varsha that the human body does not tolerate foreign objects and that her pneumonia would get worse, because the thing had already been in her lung for two weeks. There was even talk of a more serious operation in which a piece of lung would be removed if the bronchoscopy failed again.

It was delicate because it involved a sharp object that had to pass along Varsha’s narrow windpipe. If it were to be injured, it could lead to bleeding, with catastrophic consequences. But fortunately the lock of the piercing could be removed without any problems this time. The keyhole surgery took half an hour. After four days in hospital, Varsha was allowed to go home.

Will she wear a nose piercing again? “No way. I never thought this could happen, but it did. I don’t want this to happen again.”

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