Giant potato wedged in bloke’s bum leaves docs baffled
Ouch potato! A man left surgeons baffled when he turned up at hospital with a seven inch spud stuck up his bum, forcing them to carry out an emergency surgery to remove it
A scan photo showed the large sweet potato lodged inside his rectum.(Image: Jam Press)
Stunned surgeons had to cut open a thrill seeker’s abdomen to remove a huge sweet potato – which he’d stuck up his bum.
The unnamed man, 61, reportedly inserted the 17cm (7in) spud “out of boredom” at around 11pm, then went to sleep.
But he was woken in the middle of the night by sudden, intense abdominal pain and his attempts to pull the root veg out manually or pass it naturally failed.
By 4am, the pain became unbearable and he rushed to a local hospital in Chengdu, China. Baffled doctors tried breaking the tater into pieces, but it was too tough to crack.
They then attempted to grip it with a wine bottle opener but that too failed. After consulting with the patient, the medics decided a laparotomy was necessary.
They opened his abdomen and removed the sweet potato directly, finally bringing the ordeal to an end.
The item measured about 17cm long and just under 7cm (3in) wide, according to Dr Xu Guolin, deputy director of the hospital’s proctology and dermatology department. A scan photo showed the large sweet potato lodged inside his rectum.
When asked how it had ended up inside him, the patient reportedly told Dr Wu: “I don’t know, it was an accident.”
This was far from the first unusual rectal admission. In November, doctors in Taichung, Taiwan, discovered a ceramic cup lodged upside down in a man’s rectum.
He had sought help after being unable to pass stool for three days. Surgeons opened his abdomen and intestine to remove the vessel.
Doctors in the UK once had to warn people to ignore an old wives tale that shoving a frozen potato up your bum was a cure for piles.
One website false claimed: “Insert the frozen potato slice in your anus and leave it inside for 30 seconds. Repeat the process for three to five days. The next three to five days leave the slice inside for 30 seconds more each time.”
Dr Diana Gall, of leading online medical service Doctor-4-U, said in 2020: “Piles can be an irritating condition and sufferers are sometimes too embarrassed to seek professional helping, turning to old wives’ tales instead.
“There is no medical evidence that putting frozen potatoes inside the anus can help cure piles, so I would urge caution to anyone thinking of doing it.”
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