A 6-year-old girl was rushed to a hospital for life-saving surgery after she swallowed more than 20 magnets.
According to reports, she had been playing with strong magnets at school and decided to take them home to make accessories for her doll.
But over the course of only a few days, the young girl from Lewes, Sussex, swallowed 23 magnets that ripped through her bowel.
The surgeon who performed the surgery said the strong magnets were ‘potentially fatal.’
More magnets were discovered in the girl’s bedroom.
Her mother, Tanith, said the magnets were shown being used to imitate tongue pierces in videos found on TikTok.
“I want to warn parents about the dangers of their children playing with magnets,” the mother said, as per BBC.
“I want to reinforce how dangerous these magnets really are.”
The mother said her daughter told her the magnets ‘felt nice’ in her mouth. She first started experiencing stomach pains on September 12 and had been vomiting for a couple of days when they took her to her doctor.
But when her condition did not improve, the girl was taken to the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital where she was diagnosed with appendicitis.
During the surgery to have her appendix removed, surgeons discovered a string of magnets in her bowel.
Consultant pediatric surgeon Costa Healy said the magnets can cause life-changing injuries.
She added: “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.”
The girl is now recovering at home.
Her mother said: “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.”
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