Children are curious. But one 11-year-old boy proved that curiosity could be dangerous. After he decided to shove 5mm wide magnetic balls up his penis and into his urinary tract, he found himself in the hospital, suffering from extreme pain and embarrassment. The boy’s parents were forced to rush him to the closest hospital in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province early on Monday because he was suffering from worrying symptoms.
As it turned out, the boy did not decide to reveal the cause of his pain and suffering to his parents. While he certainly was embarrassed about what happened, he figured that the less they knew about his strange habit of stuffing small magnetic balls up his urinary tract, the better.
The boy from east China was rushed into surgery once the X-ray showed the truth about his condition. He had more than 70 small magnetic balls pushed inside of him.
Chinese media outlets reported that the boy was hurried into emergency surgery. Doctors cut the boy’s body open and carefully removed the magnetic balls from his urinary tract before they caused any lasting damage. Because they were magnetic, the surgeons had to be extremely careful as they removed them, making sure nothing pulled at any sensitive tissue inside the boy’s body. The procedure took two hours.
The X-ray showed just how bad the situation was for the child. He shoved the Buckyballs through the opening in his penis all the way up and into his bladder. They were gathered there preventing him from using the bathroom without extreme pain.
Dr. Tao Chang from the Children’s Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine said the boy, who was referred to as Xiaohua, did not like the idea of admitting what he had done to his body.
But he didn’t have to tell the whole truth because the x-ray did that for him. Nevertheless, the boy’s curiosity to see how many magnetic balls he could shove into the urinary tract mesmerized doctors.
“As children mature, it is normal for them to become more curious about their bodies,” Dr. Tao said to the Metropolis Express. He also urged parents to communicate with children so incidents like this could be avoided.
The surgery that was required to help this boy was minimally invasive. Doctors were able to use an endoscope via the boy’s bladder to remove the balls one at a time. It took a long time because there were more than 70 of them.
“Regular surgery would require a 10-centimeter (4-inch) incision, but with microsurgery, the opening is minimized to just 1 centimeter (0.4-inches),” Dr. Tao said.
Because Dr. Tao and the others discovered the boy’s issue early, he is expected to make a complete recovery. However, it is still an alarming thing to have happen to the family.
But for Dr. Tao, this was just a regular day in the office. He has found many things inside pubescent boys like this child. Some of the more common objects shoved up there include sewing needles, copper wire, and cables. The boys are curious and don’t seem to care about the consequences.
This is not even the first time in 2019 that a boy in China shoved magnetic balls through his urethra. In January, another boy needed surgery to remove 39 magnetic beads from his urinary tract.
