Young girl had a 'fully grown' dandelion inside her ear

Doctors were left stunned after discovering a dandelion growing inside the ear canal of a 16-month girl.The flower was found by medics in Beijing, China, after the child was taken to hospital crying and in pain by her worried mother.It had partly flowered and had grown to nearly 2cm long before being surgically removed, the Beijing Morning Post reported.The parents of the girl, called Ranran, said their daughter had been complaining about an earache for four months but both had dismissed her.But after the girl started scratching the offending ear, her mother had a look and saw 'something' inside.After trying and failing to get it out, she took the child to hospital where the shocking discovery was made.Doctors said the dandelion had grown into the girl's ear and had completely filled the canal wall, which could have caused the infant serious damage.'Even the slightest bit of pressure put her at risk for internal bleeding so it had to come out,' said Gu Qinglong, the hospital's chief physician of otolaryngology.The warm and humid conditions in the ear canal are likely to have encouraged growth, added the doctor.It is far from the first time a disturbing discovery has been made in someone's ear.In July, an English woman who had unexplained headaches learned that her ears were filled with flesh-eating worms she picked up in Peru.And last year, a woman in China who complained of an itch was found to have a spider living inside.(Reuters)ANN.Az