Foreign Bodies

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Treatments and Therapies

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• Related Issues
• Specifics

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• Images

Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Patient Handouts

Summary

If you've ever gotten a splinter or had sand in your eye, you've had experience with a foreign body. A foreign body is something that is stuck inside you but isn't supposed to be there. You may inhale or swallow a foreign body, or you may get one from an injury to almost any part of your body. Foreign bodies are more common in small children, who sometimes stick things in their mouths, ears, and noses.

Some foreign bodies, like a small splinter, do not cause serious harm. Inhaled or swallowed foreign bodies may cause choking or bowel obstruction and may require medical care.

Start Here

• Foreign Body (Virtual Pediatric Hospital)

Treatments and Therapies

• Endoscopic Foreign Body Removal (American College of Gastroenterology)

Related Issues

• Puncture Wounds (American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons) Also in Spanish

Specifics

• Foreign Object in the Ear: First Aid (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Foreign Object in the Eye: First Aid (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Foreign Objects in the Rectum (Merck & Co., Inc.) Also in Spanish

Images

• Corneal Foreign Body (VisualDX)
• Foreign Object in Eye or Skin, First Aid (VisualDX)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Foreign Bodies (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Non-foreign body-associated risk factors for complications associated with esophageal foreign-body removal...
• Article: Foreign body aspiration through the eyes of a pediatric pulmonologist: Is...
• Article: The characteristics of occult foreign body aspiration and predicting factors in...
• Foreign Bodies -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• American College of Emergency Physicians
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Also in Spanish

Children

• Splinters and Other Foreign Bodies in the Skin (American Academy of Pediatrics) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Bezoar (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Eye - foreign object in (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Foreign body in the nose (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Foreign object - inhaled or swallowed (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Splinter removal (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish