A man has finally had a coin rem0ved from his n0se after it was stuck for more than half a century. The 59-year-old unnamed Russian man was aged just six when he wedged the money into his right n0stril.
He was ‘too scared’ to tell his ‘strict’ mother about it and then later ‘forgot,’ local media reported. The man apparently managed to live for the next fifty years unimpeded by the blockage until recently stared complaining he could n0t breath at all in his right n0stril.
He went to hospital and was given a scan which showed the unexpected object in the nasal passage. Rhinoliths – stones in the nasal cavity – had formed around the coin, constricting his ability to breathe.
Medics carried out endoscopic surgery under general anaesthetic removing the stones and retrieving the Soviet one kopek coin from his nose after 53 years.
The money officially worth around one penny at the time, ceased to be used in Russia after the USSR’s collapse in 1991 and the hammer and sickle emblem was no longer visible on the coin.
Specialist otorhinolaryngologist Elena Nepryakhina said: ‘We operated on Friday and he was discharged on Monday. He has regained full nasal breathing.’
