A DEODORANT bottle, a light bulb and a pair of scissors are among the items doctors at East Surrey Hospital have had to remove from different parts of patients' bodies.
A Freedom of Information request by the Advertiser has revealed a host of unusual objects have been removed from rather uncomfortable positions.
The strangest job surgeons have faced for some time was when they had to remove a deodorant bottle from a patient's bottom.
Between April 1, 2010, and March 31, 2013, the dates the figures cover, a fluorescent bulb was also found in a patient's stomach, a tooth was pulled out of an ear and a toxic plant was removed from someone's intestine.
The figures also reveal cases where patients have struggled to digest meals, with doctors having to remove parts of meat pies and fish bones. Dr Ben Mearns, clinical leader for acute and elderly medicine at East Surrey Hospital, was not surprised by the list of objects that had to be removed.
"Some of the items might come as a shock to readers, but I can't say I was shocked," he said.
"These are the kind of things that would be found in hospitals up and down the country.
"The majority of the patients who would be admitted with items stuck inside them are young children.
"Things like Play-Doh and beads in ears are usually from children being children and playing.
"Removing items like that are relatively straight forward, if you can see the object it can be done with a pair of tweezers.
"But a child does not always want someone near to where the item has been inserted, that's when you have to be delicate."
When the Advertiser broached the question of how a deodorant bottle had made its way into someone's bottom, Dr Mearns explained that patients are asked how objects have got into unusual places.
He added: "Some patients are more honest and some less honest.
"Your guess how a bottle would get into someone's bottom is as good as mine.
"I think it would be unlikely that it is unintentional, but whenever a patient is admitted we ask them what their story is.
"With the deodorant bottle, if the doctor could not see it, then it is likely the doctor would have used a telescope to locate it and then performed surgery in order to take it out.
"There is no one-size-fits-all procedure. It all depends on what the item is and where it is."
Dangerous items were also recovered during the three-year period, with surgeons being forced to operate on patients' stomachs to recover razor blades and glass, which had been deliberately swallowed by patients to harm themselves.
Dr Mearns added that adults should use a common sense approach to their health and safety.
He noted that if an item is not supposed to be inserted into the body, it shouldn't be.
