A woman who keeps hearing clicking and rustling noises has a spider crawling into her left ear.
The unnamed 64-year-old from Taiwan was hospitalized after struggling for four days with symptoms that became unbearable and left her unable to sleep.
Doctors soon found the tiny spider, about the size of a pin, along with the scaly skin next to it.
The arachnid was removed with a suction device. The woman had no damage to her ear canal or any long-term effects.
A 64-year-old woman from Taiwan had a spider removed from her ear after it stayed in her ear for four days
She kept hearing rustling and clicking noises that prevented her from sleeping
The bizarre case was revealed in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The spider was found in the woman’s ear in April this year when the woman heard a rustling sound after waking up one morning.
Sometimes small creatures get into the ears, which is responsible for foreign bodies that get into the ears in about one in eight cases.
Others previously observed in the ear include small ants, cockroaches, moths and mosquitoes.
Man pulled cockroach out of ear
Zane Wedding from Auckland went to the doctor on Saturday with what he thought was water in his ear canal after a day of swimming.
They can penetrate through the external auditory canal and travel to the tympanic membrane (or tympanic membrane), causing patients to constantly hear sounds.
Doctors often remove them with a device called a suction cannula, which can be inserted into the ear to remove small objects.
Doctors say they are likely to be heard by patients because the skin around the eardrum is extremely sensitive.
However, they say it’s best not to try to remove the insects because most people are harmed by attempts to remove the creatures.
Dr. Stacey Ishman, an ear, nose and throat specialist at the University of Wisconsin, told NBC, “Most of the time the ear is perfectly fine.”
“If there’s an injury to the ear canal, it’s honestly more likely to be from people trying to get it out than the insect itself.”
A safe way to remove insects from the ear, according to doctors, is to pour vegetable or olive oil into it, which can cause the insects to drown or slip out.
Another method is to pour lidocaine or ethanol into the ear to kill the insect and prevent it from moving and damaging the ear.
But people with holes in their eardrums should avoid it because of the risk of eardrum damage, doctors say.
This happened after a New Zealand man had a cockroach pulled out of his ear after feeling it for three days.
Zane Wedding from Auckland went to the doctor on Saturday with what he thought was water in his ear canal after a day of swimming.
He got an ear shot, was given antibiotics and sent home, but decided to see an ear doctor on Monday because he still felt his ringing.
The specialist realized Wedding had a now-dead cockroach in his ear and managed to remove the insect – and was given it as a souvenir by the patient.
“It made me physically ill,” Wedding described the ordeal to the NZ Herald.
The doctor was as shocked as he was, Mr Wedding said, screaming “Oh my God” when she realized what was stuck in his ear canal.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
