Doctor have reported an strange showcase of a man who unintentionally got molten alloy inside his ear while welding , which they believe to be only one of five in the medical lit .
A 60 - year - old man showed up at the emergency department complaining of severe fire pain in his correct auricle , the MD save inBMJ Case Reports 2021 . The effort of his burn pain in the neck was straight off manifest . to begin with that 24-hour interval he had been using an " OxyTorch " soldering iron on the bottom of his semi - trailer . While lie on his side and wearing no ear protection , " molten hot steel " poured into his auricle and down his external audile canal .
As the scoria burned its way into his capitulum , he listen a phone like a " fire cracker " , before take heed loss set in . The man poured tap water into his spike in parliamentary procedure to let off the pain in the neck and burning sense impression , before head to the hospital .
Upon test , they base him to have sing hairs in his ear duct , and his eardrum was punch . He had know strange taste virtuoso and hearing loss , but other than that seemed healthy . He was referred to an capitulum , olfactory organ , and throat medical specialist , and given analgesic in the meanwhile . But this was n’t the end of his problems , as the molten metal ( now cooled ) still remained in his straits .
While he waited eight calendar week to be see due to a " substantial waitlist " , he developed two pinna infections , tinnitus , and say that his auricle felt " hollow " and that he struggled to hear in crowded environments . Upon probe by the ear , nozzle , and throat Dr. , he was found to have a foreign trunk inside his sinus timpani .
The squad decided to remove the metal surgically . It was located near inflamed tissue , and removed successfully , though they remark that there was damage to the chorda tympani nerve – a boldness that use up taste messages from the taste buds to the brain – by the molten alloy .
Though the affected role suffered from impermanent sense of hearing expiration , he had otherwise escaped with pretty minimum damage , having dodged other possible terms to his proportionality or complication from infection .
" The case presented is of an super lucky humankind who suffer only mild conductive hearing deprivation from his injury , " the team wrote in their report . " And had a positive result from surgical intervention with full recovery of his listening and remotion of the offending foreign body . "
