A man is recovering after having a coin removed from his nose that had been stuck up there for 53 years.
He knew about it since childhood – and reportedly had been "too scared" to tell his mum and dad what he had done.
The 59-year-old Russian man is now breathing perfectly after the painful procedure last month.
He was just six years old when he wedged the coin in his right nostril but refused to seek help because of the fear of being told off.
The boy couldn't face tell his “strict” parents about it and then later “forgot” it was in there at all.
But the pain returned half a century on and he was forced to seek medical help.
He went to hospital complaining he could not breathe at all and was then given a scan.
It showed a very unexpected blockage in the nasal passage and an operation was required.
Rhinoliths – which are stones in the nasal cavity – had formed around the coin, worth around one penny at the time he make the big mistake.
Medics carried out endoscopic surgery under general anaesthetic removing the stones and retrieving the Soviet one kopek coin from his nose.
The money ceased to be used in Russia after the USSR’s collapse in 1991.
The hammer and sickle emblem was no longer visible on the coin.
Specialist otorhinolaryngologist Elena Nepryakhina said: “We operated on Friday and he was discharged.
“He has regained full nasal breathing.”
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