Doctors Remove 23 Magnets From 6-Year-Old's Body While Performing Appendicitis Surgery

A team of doctors in a U.K. hospital removed 23 magnets from a 6-year-old girl’s body after she swallowed them while copying TikTok videos.

The girl, identified as Tanith, took the magnets home from school to make jewels for her doll. She then started putting them in her mouth while imitating tongue piercings she had seen in TikTok videos, Wales Online reported.

Later, Tanith developed stomach pain, and vomited for two days before her family took her to the hospital. Doctors there diagnosed her with appendicitis and told the family she needed to undergo an emergency surgery.

However, during the surgery, the doctors found a string of magnets in the girl’s bowel. The surgeons successfully removed the magnets.

Consultant pediatric surgeon Costa Healy told the BBC that the magnets can cause life-changing injuries and can also be fatal.

"The vast majority of time we get there in time to save them, but if I was a parent with this type of magnets in the house, I'd be getting rid of them," Healy told the outlet.

Meanwhile, the girl's mother urged other parents to keep their children away from magnets: "I want to warn parents about the dangers of their children playing with magnets. I want to reinforce how dangerous these magnets really are," BBC reported.

"She's been through major surgery and it's been overwhelming for her, and she's got a scar about 10cm long. It could have been much worse - there's no permanent damage. We were looking at the possibility of her needing to have a stoma," she added.

The girl has since been discharged from the hospital and was recovering at home.

Last year, a team of doctors in a Dubai hospital removed eight small magnetic balls from a toddler’s stomach. The parents of the 1-year-old child rushed her to the hospital after noticing the baby was not well. Tests revealed that the child had ingested eight magnetic balls. An emergency surgery was carried out to remove the balls.