Man with bizarre habit of eating construction foam suffers fatal tear in his stomach – and the sealant is molded to the shape of his organs
A man almost lost his life and suffered a ruptured stomach after eating the amount of expandable foam from a plant pot.
The 45-year-old, whose name was not given, was taken to an operating room in South Korea with severe abdominal pain after ‘deliberately’ eating the foam.
Doctors quickly removed the substance – often used to seal cracks in buildings and on arts and crafts projects – and found it had molded to the shape of his stomach and food pipe.
The material was found to have punctured the sensitive stomach wall, resulting in agonizing pain that required surgical repair.
After the procedure, the patient was kept in the ward for two weeks before being sent home.
The above image shows the foam extracted from the man, on the left the imprint of the stomach and lower part of the esophagus can be seen on the foam
An American woman named Jennifer has previously admitted to eating foam, saying she has gone through as many as eight mattresses in 20 years
Fortunately, he experienced no long-term effects from the foam consumption.
The bizarre case was revealed by doctors from Kyungpook National University in the magazine Clinical Toxicology.
In the paper, the doctors suggested that the foam had expanded once it was inside the man.
The resulting volume of the substance ‘greatly exceeded’ the space in the stomach, causing the organ to rupture and its contents to begin to leak.
Doctors say a stomach tear or perforation can be fatal because it can cause an infection that can quickly lead to sepsis without treatment.
The doctors said: ‘Life-threatening gastric perforation can occur after ingestion of polyurethane foam.
‘Clinical toxicologists and emergency physicians should be aware of the highly expandable nature of this agent.’
Few other details about the patient have been revealed, including why the person may have consumed the foam.
But doctors said this may be related to the mental condition pica, which causes people to consume inedible materials with no nutritional benefits.
About one in 100 people suffer from the condition, estimates show, which may be linked to mental illness or developmental problems such as autism.
Doctors added that when the patient was first admitted to the ER, they performed a laparoscopy – where small incisions were made in the abdomen before a camera was inserted.
It was estimated that the person had consumed approximately 200 cm³ of foam, which is equivalent to a plant pot.
Other cases of people eating foam-like materials include an American woman named Jennifer, who ate a piece of mattress every day.
She said TLC: ‘I like a plain mattress, no mayonnaise, no butter, none of that.
‘The side effects of eating mattresses, gas is basically the only one you have. It comes into my body, it comes into my system and it goes out.”
She said she has used eight mattresses in 20 years.