One little girl by the name of Le Le was brought to the hospital by her parents after suffering months of what doctors had initially thought to be a mere allergic reaction. The ring-like irritation that appeared on her forearm had not reduced in size or severity since early this year. Upon arriving at A&E, one particular doctor made a shocking discovery.
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What was thought to be a mere allergic reaction was actually a foreign object that had found its way into her arm.
A rare, but not unknown occurrence
When Dr. Ye Wengsong at the Children’s Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China first saw the girl, he knew something was wrong. After some insistence, he convinced the parents to allow him to test his theory and x-ray the girl.
Upon receiving the results, Dr. Ye confirmed his hypothesis - the girl had an elastic band embedded in her arm. Emergency surgery was immediately scheduled.
In his 20 years in the medical field, Dr. Ye has personally seen an occurrence like this happen once before. In China, there have been more than a few incidents where children have had bands embedded deep within the skin. 'Some elders also like to tie thin red strings around children’s necks, wrists or fingers for good luck, but the practice comes with risks', says Dr. Ye.
If that doesn't convince you to stop wearing your bobble around your wrist, I don't know what will!