Sinusitis, Or Paperclipitis?

One evergreen source of ENT curiosity is the foreign object news item, wherein a patient whose symptoms never really responded to typical measures suddenly discovers a really old hidden object that has been embedded in the sinuses for months or years.

Consider this little girl with constant congestion ultimately discovered that an idle – if dangerous – playtime activity from many months earlier had come back to haunt her:

Little Khloe, of Hemet, California, had a “constant, green, runny nose” that “smelled horrific” for over six months, her mother Katelyn Powell told ABC News. Powell, 25, said she took her 5-year-old daughter to three different doctors, an ear/nose/throat specialist and a dentist — most of whom believed Khloe just had a sinus infection.

[T]his past weekend, the mystery illness was finally solved. When Khloe blew her nose, a 1.5-inch-long safety pin “popped out,” her mother said.

Problem solved! And so we get yet another solid reminder that when kids shove things up their noses, it really shouldn’t be a one-way street: keep an eye on anything likely to get stuck or lodged, and make sure you have a count going so you don’t leave anything behind.