Chinese man who swallowed thermometer finally gets it removed from stomach after 20 years

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A 32-year-old man in China recently found out the cause of his long-term stomach pain: a mercury thermometer he accidentally swallowed when he was a child.

Mr. Wang said he accidentally swallowed a thermometer when he was twelve. He kept it a secret from his parents because he didn’t want to worry them or interrupt their work.

Remarkably, he felt no effects afterward and continued living normally until stomach pain started in spring 2026.

Growing up, I heard about Wang’s health issues, and things got serious when he realized he really needed to see a doctor. When the doctors at The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University did a scan of his stomach, they were absolutely stunned by what they found!

The scan revealed the mercury thermometer Wang had swallowed years earlier was still inside his duodenum – the beginning of his small intestine.

Doctors remove thermometer stuck in man’s stomach for 20 years

According to the South China Morning Post, the object was lodged directly against the man’s intestinal wall, very close to his bile ducts. Removing it was difficult because of the risk of injuring his intestines.

Fortunately, doctors successfully removed the object, which turned out to be an old mercury thermometer that had been inside Wang’s body for quite some time, causing its markings to fade.

The most surprising thing is that the thermometer stayed intact for 20 years inside Wang’s stomach. People commenting online noted that a mercury leak would have been a very dangerous situation.

Mercury is a metal that can be found as both a solid and a liquid. The mercury used in thermometers is a pure form of the element, but it’s harmful if swallowed. Symptoms of mercury poisoning can include difficulty breathing, feeling sick to your stomach, vomiting, swollen or bleeding gums, and coughing.

In Wang’s situation, even if the thermometer had broken, his body probably wouldn’t have absorbed much of the mercury. The University of Florida Health explains that the body doesn’t process elemental mercury well when swallowed, and it’s generally not harmful if it is.

A 46-year-old man recently had chopsticks removed from his throat – incredibly, he’d swallowed them ten years earlier and just recently sought medical attention. The unusual case has quickly spread online.

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2026-04-14 21:18