The man's doctors performed a minor surgery to explore his ear canal; during this operation, they located and removed the cotton swab tip that had gone missing. The swab was impacted and surrounded by wax and debris, suggesting that it had been there for some time, Charlton said, adding that it probably contributed to the man's recurrent ear infections over the years, culminating in the particularly severe episode.
The man spent nearly a week in the hospital and needed two months of intravenous and oral antibiotics to treat the infection, but he had no long-term hearing or thinking problems.
And, perhaps unsurprisingly, he was advised to never use cotton swabs in his ears again. "They can only cause problems," Charlton said, noting that cotton swabs have been linked to ear infections, punctured eardrums and impacted ear wax.
The case was published online on March 6 in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
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