A 61-year-old man in China had to undergo emergency surgery to remove 42 pearls he had embedded in his body for years as part of an unusual remedy for his severe leg pain.
Doctors at Nianlun Orthopaedics Hospital (NOH) in Changsha, Hunan Province in Central China removed the pearls from the waist, hip and legs of the man surnamed Zou last week.
Zou suffered from intense lower back and leg pain for years. A friend introduced Zou to a doctor in Yiyang, Hunan Province, who suggested embedding 42 pearls under his skin, 'Global Times' reported.
One of Zou's relatives who underwent the therapy got better, so Zou also decided to get the procedure done in 2011.
Zou began experiencing sharp pain in his legs last year, rendering him unable to walk.
Doctors found that as a result of the unusual remedy, Zou had contracted bilateral femoral head necrosis, a condition where blood supply to the bone is interrupted.
