A woman who couldn’t smell was shocked after doctors found a stone stuck up her nose for 33 years.
Elvira Medina had suffered from constant nosebleeds since she was eight years old.
Her parents simply put it down to sinusitis.
But the 41-year-old started suffering from headaches and then lost her sense of smell three years ago.
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Elvira also had problems breathing.
She went to see a specialist at the Alberto Sabogal Sologuren Hospital in Bellavista, Peru.
They found a 3cm stone in one of her nostrils.
She has no idea how it got there.
Elvira said: “I attended a consultation with Dr Alejandro Deza, and he was the one who diagnosed a stone inside my right nostril.”
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Dr Deza said the stone was a rhinolith, caused by calcareous concretions forming around an intranasal foreign body.
He added: “Apart from rhinoscopy, the patient also underwent nasofibroscopy, which is a procedure we do here at the hospital.
“We also carried out a tomography that discovered the presence of this rhinolith.
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“Immediately after the diagnosis, we performed all the necessary pre-surgical examinations.
“On the afternoon of 22 November, we performed endoscopic nasal surgery on the patient, which was successful as this foreign body was completely removed.”
Following the operation, Medina said she is now breathing normally and does not suffer from severe headaches anymore.
She also thanked the hospital staff for taking an interest in her case after being affected by the stone for over three decades.
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