March 12th, 2011 “Buckyballs” Not Safe Substitutes as Nose Rings, Tongue Piercings
Students in a middle school in La Jolla are learning lessons the hard way: in their bid to imitate nose rings and tongue piercings, accidental cases of swallowed buckyballs have led to medical emergencies.
Buckyballs are small magnetic balls that can be combined ala small legos in order to form nose rings, tongue piercings, or earrings but with potentially deadly consequences. Because these magnets are small, they can easily be swallowed or inhaled which can lead to problems. If more than one magnet is swallowed, their interaction inside the intestines can cause membranes to rupture resulting to cases of internal hemorrhage. They can also lead to obstruction in the normal movement within the digestive tract. The result: a potential medical "piercing" as in surgery, to remove the swallowed or inhaled magnets.