A 71-year-old woman went to the doctor because of pain in the sole of her foot that she could not explain. She did not remember having recently suffered any blow or accident, but an X-ray revealed something incredible: a metal fragment about 6,5 centimeters long was embedded in her foot.
When asked about possible old injuries, she remembered an incident that had occurred more than 40 years earlier, when an umbrella rod pierced her foot. According to her account, a healer had tried to remove it, and she believed it had come out completely.
But it hadn’t.
The object remained inside her foot for decades. Over time, the metal had corroded and caused an inflammatory reaction around the area, known as metallosis.
The doctors performed a partial extraction and removed most of the piece. Approximately 3 centimeters of the fragment remained in the patient, and she progressed favorably until she made a full recovery.
The case was published in 2025 as an unusual example of a foreign body that remained hidden for more than four decades.