Doctor removed tenacious dandelion growing in girl's ear

A dandelion seed that had sprouted and had been growing in the ear of a 16-month-old Chinese girl was removed on Monday by a doctor who said the roots had embedded themselves in the toddler's ear canal.

The parents of the girl, who live in the Tongzhou District in Beijing, went to see an ear, nose and throat specialist at the Capital Institute of Paediatrics.



The parents said something like a seed fell into the left ear of their daughter about four months ago, but they didn’t pay too much attention to it until recently, when the girl started scratching the ear.

It took Gu Qinglong, director of the department, about 10 minutes to remove the plant with the help of several assistants. The dandelion seed was tenacious and not easy to remove, the doctor said. Gu reminded parents that they need to pay attention to all parts of a child's body to spot problems before they become serious.