Distraught daughter swallows SEVEN toothbrushes after parents tried to force her to marry so she wouldn't be "leftover"
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Surgeons have removed seven toothbrushes from a woman's body after she swallowed them to spite her parents who forced her to get married.
The toothbrushes had to be taken out by doctors at a hospital in China because the objects were causing the woman intense stomach pain.
Hospital staff were stunned when they scanned her stomach and discovered the oral hygiene instruments lodged in her intestines.
She was immediately rushed into emergency surgery and underwent a six-hour operation that was met with difficulties as two of the toothbrushes had pierced her liver.
(Photo: AsiaWire)
The woman's ordeal began when her parents feared that she may never find a husband and pressured her into marrying so she didn't become a "leftover woman" - an embarrassing term often used to describe single Chinese women over the age of 30.
Despite being only 31, the woman from Ningde City in China's Fujian Province was set up on a blind date and introduced to a man who her parents believed would make a suitable husband.
However the woman opposed the decision and did not agree to a wedding.
Constant arguments with her mum put her on the brink of a mental breakdown which saw her start to swallow random items such as buttons, hair, hair bands and bracelets about six months ago.
It was only recently, when her family took her to see experts at Fujian Medical University that the toothbrushes were discovered.
(Photo: AsiaWire)
During surgery physician Chen Xianqiang made a large incision in the woman's abdominal wall - a laparotomy - and cited difficulties removing the objects.
Two of the toothbrushes had pierced her liver and four were lodged in her small intestine, while the remaining three had already made their way into her large intestine.
One-third of her small intestine was removed in the procedure, as well as about 20cm of her large intestine.
She is now recovering in hospital, but Dr Chen says two more operations will be required in the near future.