BB gun pellet lodged in teen's nose
A teen unknowingly had a BB pellet lodged in his nose for eight years, which caused a "foul odor" when he blew his nose. The teen first visited doctors for his symptoms when he was 15 years old, Live Science previously reported. By that point, he had experienced nasal congestion for several years along with a reduced sense of smell, according to a report of the case, published Feb. 18 in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. At first, he received a nasal spray and antihistamine medication for his symptoms. But when he returned to the doctor a year later, the authors noticed "a pungent, foul odor" that filled the room when he blew his nose. A CT scan showed a 0.35-inch (9 millimeters) spherical structure in his nasal cavity. The teen underwent surgery to remove the object, which turned out to be a metallic BB pellet. A talk with the teen's family revealed that he had been shot in the nose with a pellet gun when he was about 8 or 9 years old. At the time, the boy hadn't experienced symptoms, so his parents had not sought medical care. The pellet had been hard to spot at first because new tissue had grown over it. It had blocked the drainage pathways in the boy's nose, which led to a buildup of mucus, debris and bacteria that in turn caused the foul odor, the authors said. After the boy's surgery, the unpleasant odor disappeared.