A 59-year-old man in Zelenograd, Russia lived with breathing difficulties for 53 years because of a coin that was wedged in his nose.
- The man had forgotten that a coin had gotten stuck in his nose when he was 6 years old.
- As a child, he had been too afraid to tell his strict parents what he had done.
- 53 years later, he underwent surgery and remembered what had happened.
Doctors at the Konchalovsky City Clinical Hospital in Zelenograd reported the extraordinary case.
The unnamed man lived with breathing difficulties for 53 years without knowing why. Recently, he consulted doctors in Zelenograd, Russia and a CT scan revealed that his right nasal passage was completely blocked by a foreign body: a coin. According to the Mirror, “rhinoliths – stones in the nasal cavity – had formed around the coin, constricting [the man’s] ability to breathe”. The doctors at the Konchalovsky City Clinical Hospital carried out surgery under general anesthetic and they removed the stones. More importantly, they retrieved a Soviet one kopek coin.
The man had shoved the coin into his nose when he was 6 years old.
53 years before his operation, the man had wedged a Soviet one kopek coin in his right nostril. Afraid to tell his strict mother that the coin had gotten stuck, he kept it a secret. With time, the boy forgot and he grew into a man who suffered from breathing difficulties. Now, at the age of 59, the man has finally restored his ability to breathe. The Mirror reported that specialist otorhinolaryngologist Elena Nepryakhina said: “We operated on Friday and he was discharged on Monday. He has regained full nasal breathing.”
When the boy wedged the coin in his nose 53 years ago, the money was worth one penny. After the USSR’s collapse in 1991, the money ceased to be used. Now, the hammer and sickle emblem is no longer visible.
