Doctor makes grisly discovery when his patient complained of persistent ear ache

An ear specialist expecting to remove wax as part of a routine procedure was shocked when he stumbled on a large piece of plastic.

Consultant audiologist Neel Raithatha was amazed when he made the bizarre discovery deep inside the patient’s ear.

Mr Raithatha, from The Hear Clinic in Leicestershire, said he found the bizarre item within the patient’s ear canal.

Speaking about the odd find, he said: “I discovered a mystery plastic object embedded within the earwax which was situated deep in the ear canal.

“I had to use crocodile forceps to safely extract the object from out of the ear."

Both doctor and his patient were shocked as the patient has no recollection of how it could have got there.

The patient claimed to never have had ear surgery.

Closer inspection confirmed the piece of plastic was in fact a barb tag – which is most commonly found attaching labels to clothes in stores.

Despite tests showing the eardrum was mobile and not perforated, it was mildly inflamed which was most commonly caused by the amount of wax pressing down, as well as the barb tag coming into contact with the eardrum.

Following the procedure, Mr Raithatha said: “I was left scratching my head trying to fathom what the mystery plastic object was and how it managed to become embedded unnoticed inside the earwax."

This, however, is not the first bizarre item which Neel has removed from a patients ear.

He added: “I have previously removed a pen cap, earrings, 22 wax filters as well as cotton buds from a patients ear canal!"