Woman suffering headaches had bullet lodged in face for 42 years

Doctors have removed a bullet that was lodged in a housewife's face for 42 years. Hou Guoying, 65, had been complaining of an agonising headache before the operation in China.

X-ray pictures at Daping Hospital in Chongqing showed the bullet embedded near her right jaw and ear. She was accidentally shot with a pistol during the proletarian Cultural Revolution in 1967.

The bullet apparently hit her when it ricocheted through a wall during a fight in between rival factions of Red Guards. But doctors initially told her that her wound was only superficial.



Constant headaches and difficulty eating eventually led to an x-ray in 1978 that revealed the bullet.

She had refused an operation because of poor medical facilities in Chongqing at the time - resulting in three more decades of discomfort. But earlier this year, pain from the wound started spreading over her entire body.

Hou underwent surgery earlier this month to remove the 3.3cm-long bullet and is now recovering at home in Chongqing.