A woman needed a stray bullet removed from her cl!toris after being accidentally shot.
The 24-year-old, from Somalia, was rushed to hospital in severe pain after the 2cm bullet came through her ceiling while she was sat in her living room.
CT scans revealed the bullet had become lodged inside her cl!toris after being fired into her v*l*a, meaning she required surgery to have it safely removed.
Publishing grisly images of her injury in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports, doctors said they believe the case is the first of its kind.
“To the best of our knowledge, this case is unique due to the bullet being retained in the cl!toris‘, they added.
The date of the incident was not revealed in the case report by medics at Erdoğan Hospital in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.
On arrival to hospital, the woman told the obstetrics and gynaecology team that she had been sat in her lounge when the stray bullet fell through the ceiling.
No other details of the incident were given.
Pelvic exams showed where the bullet had penetrated the cl!toris, while CT scans confirmed the placement of the bullet.
Under local anaesthetic, medics then removed the bullet from the cl!toris.
Following its surgical removal, no complications were observed.
The woman was discharged home the following day ‘in good condition’, medics said.
Follow-up appointments a month later revealed there had also been no further complications.
According to the medics, non-obstetric v*lva trauma — when the v*lva experiences physical injury when not pregnant — is an extremely rare occurrence.
Typically, the cause of non-obstetric v*lva trauma includes sports-related injuries and straddle injuries, such as falling while straddling a fence or bicycle crossbar.
Gunshot injuries to the v*lva are extremely rare.
When undergoing surgery to remove an object from the v*lva, extra care should be taken not to damage the urethra and pelvic area, the doctors said.
Stray bullet injuries — which occur when a bullet is fired into the sky and it loses its energy and falls — are commonly seen in ‘residential areas in war-torn countries, such as Somalia’.
