A Florida man is breathing easier now that 150 live bugs have been removed from his nose. The unidentified patient recently went to a hospital after noticing that his face had begun to swell and his lips were so swollen he could barely talk. When he tried to get up to go to the bathroom, the nosebleeds began and his face felt like it was on fire. ENT specialist Dr. David Carlson at the HCA Florida Memorial Hospital examined the man and was shocked at what he saw in the man’s nose. There were dozens upon dozens of bugs feeding on the nose and sinus cavity — some as big as the tip of his pinkie finger. Dr. Carlson said he knew the man was in big trouble because erosion was occurring near the base of the skull, in very close proximity to the brain. Had they eaten through that area, it would have killed the man. At first, Dr. Carlson tried using a suction to remove the insects — which were in the larval stage — but there were so big that they began clogging up the suction. That’s when he decided he had no other option but to remove the bugs one by one. The bugs were sent off to an epidemiologist to determine their species, and the patient is expected to make a full recovery. It remains a mystery how the larvae got inside the man’s nose, but it’s suspected that it was a hygiene problem from handling dead fish. “Before, I would rinse my hands in the river,” said the man. “Now, I’ll use cleaner to do a better job and not touch my nose with my hand.”
