United States: A doctor in Leicester, Dr. Neel Raithatha, made a shocking discovery while treating a patient for ear wax removal. The patient had been having trouble hearing, so they went to Dr. Raithatha, who is known as a “wax whisperer” for his skill in safely removing ear wax.
As he started the routine procedure, he noticed something unusual—a strange black object embedded deep inside the patient’s ear canal. Dr. Raithatha was surprised and carefully continued to remove the wax to get a better look at the mysterious object.
It has now emerged that there was more to the problems than the ear canal being plugged by wax. He said: “It was a dead beetle which was clogged in the ear wax.” Further identification proved that the beetle was a Wheat Weevil, which was able to crawl into the ear canal, get lodged and die.
As reported by Mirror, the patient “had no idea” the critter was living inside their ear as, Dr Neel said. Earwax is generally expected to be anti-insect since it is acidic, but that made the beetle to get lodged.
By the use of specialist tools, Dr Neel was able to take out the extra wax and the dead beetle that was found on her body. He added: “Finally, the patient himself was unaware, or had no intention, to know at all that a beetle had crawled into his ear.”
He confessed that he made use of the google search engine to learn what the exact beetle was. He said: I even scanned the beetle’s picture through Google lens and got to know that it was a wheat weevil.
‘Yes, the patient was perfectly normal afterwards but apart from slightly frightened that another beetle might try to scramble into his ear at night.’
Unlike the scenario where Dr Neel’s patient had no idea that the beetle had taken residence in his ear there are some symptoms that may help let one know that a bug has crawled into the ear.
A tinitinuous noise or a ticklish feeling might mean that an insect has flown into the ear, but in some instances, bugs go into the ear without their presence being felt – and then one may develop a pain to boot.
Common bug in the ear symptoms include:
- Hearing loss
- Infection
- Vestibular complaints (pertaining to motion, head posture, and spatial position and might cause problems by affecting balance and vision.
- The feeling that something is lodged within the ear; ringing, popping, or humming; ear inflammation or redness.