We look back at the most weird and wonderful health stories of the past year

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The man with scissors in his head, the world's first penis transplant and the husband who was nagged out of a coma: We look back at the most weird and wonderful health stories of the past year

• A doctor was shocked to remove nearly 12,000 gallstones from a patient 
• Surgeons gave a woman a vagina transplant using a pig intestine
• World Health Organisation revealed bacon is as deadly as cigarettes
• A urinating farmer needed anti-venom after a snake bit him on the penis

 

MAN WITH THE SCISSORS IN HIS HEAD

A man with a pair of scissors sticking out of his head stunned hospital staff when he walked into A&E and politely asked staff if they could help him.

Blood-soaked Jonas Acevedo Monroy, 32, was nicknamed 'The Gentleman' because of his good manners.

An X-ray reveals the scissors sticking into Jonas Acevedo Monroy's head and into the left parietal lobe

Mr Monroy had been in his local bar in the city of Chihuahua in north-western Mexico, when a jealous rival came over and began to hassle him.

Speaking in January, his friend Nandor Altamirano Carvajal, 30, said: 'Jonas was as always full of high spirits and was being charming with everyone in the bar when one of the locals took umbrage.

'He came over and started trying to wind Jonas up, but when that didn't work he started getting abusive and aggressive.

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He had been stabbed in the upper-left side of his skull and the scissors had penetrated his parietal brain lobe. He is lucky to be alive.

 

'Jonas offered to buy the man a drink but the guy pulled out a pair of scissors from his jacket and stabbed him in the head.'

He took his friend, who was bleeding heavily, to hospital.

At first staff thought the scissors in his head were some sort of joke, but after Mr Monroy collapsed, they rushed him into the emergency room.

A hospital spokesman said: 'Staff were very surprised when the two walked in and the man with the scissors in his head shook the receptionist's hand and said he seemed to have a small problem and would the receptionist mind helping him.

'He had been stabbed in the upper-left side of his skull and the scissors had penetrated his parietal brain lobe. He is lucky to be alive.'

 

WORLD'S FIRST PENIS REDUCTION SURGERY

A 17-year-old boy underwent the world's first penis reduction operation, surgeons reported.

The American teen requested the surgery after his penis grew too large, restricting his ability to have sex or play competitive sports.

The boy's surgeons were shocked when he came to them complaining that his penis was too big.

When flaccid, it measured almost seven inches in length and had a circumference of 10 inches - around the size of a grapefruit - and was shaped like an American football, medics said.

The surgeon who treated the teenager, Rafael Carrion, a urologist at the University of South Florida, told MailOnline in February: 'There comes a time in every urologist's career that a patient makes a request so rare and impossible to comprehend that all training breaks down and leaves the physician speechless.

'That question was "can you make my penis smaller"?' 

A 17-year-old boy in Florida is thought to be the first person to undergo penis reduction surgery. The teenager requested the operation after his penis (pictured on an X-ray) grew too large

The teenager had suffered from several bouts of priapism - an unwanted erection - due to having a condition in which abnormally-shaped blood cells block vessels in the penis, causing it to swell.

These episodes left his penis bloated and misshapen.

He said he was unable to have sex or play competitive sport, had difficulty wearing his pants due to his 'large and heavy phallus', and was embarrassed by how visible it appeared underneath regular clothing.

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Lord knows there's a global race on how to make it longer and thicker in plastic surgery circles, but very little on how to make it smaller.

Dr Rafael Carrion 

 

Though his penis was so large, it did not grow when he had erections - it merely became firmer. 

Dr Carrion and his team looked at the medical literature but couldn't find any precedent for what to do.

'Lord knows there's a global race on how to make it longer and thicker in plastic surgery circles, but very little on how to make it smaller,' he said.

In the end, they decided to embark on a surgical technique normally used to treat Peyronie's disease, a condition where scar tissue develops along the penis, causing it to bend.

The surgeons sliced along an old circumcision scar, unwrapped the skin of the penis, and cut out two segments of tissue from either side. 

Doctors were able to bypass the urethra - the tube which carries urine through the penis - and all of the nerves that provide sensation.

The teenager spent just two days in hospital before returning home, apparently 'ecstatic' with his new penis. 

 

....AND THE FIRST PENIS TRANSPLANT

2015 was the same year as a 21-year-old man underwent the world's first successful penis transplant.

The 'ground-breaking' operation took South African surgeons nine hours to perform, and allowed the patient to urinate normally and become sexually active again.

Three years ago the man, who remains unidentified, was forced to have his penis amputated after a botched circumcision.

The 'ground-breaking' operation took South African surgeons nine hours to perform, earlier this year

 

WOMAN WHO CAN'T HAVE SEX GETS ARTIFICIAL VAGINA MADE FROM PIG INTESTINE

A woman whose vagina was so narrow she could no longer have sex underwent successful surgery to have it reconstructed - using a pig's intestine.

The woman had been sent for treatment after her gynaecologist found it was not even possible to carry out an examination.

She was referred to the University Hospital in the town of Plzen, in the western Czech Republic.

Doctors there decided to try out the operation after learning that a similar procedure involving pigs intestine could be used on people who had a narrow bladder.

The unnamed woman underwent the procedure in the Czech Republic, using a pig's intestine 

But they could find no literature or evidence that it had ever been used to help somebody like the young woman, the news agency CEN reported.

The unnamed woman was suffering from scleroderma - a condition that results in hard, thickened areas of skin and sometimes problems with internal organs and blood vessels.

The condition can cause a woman's vaginal opening to constrict - making sexual function harder - and can also cause decreased sexual lubrication. 

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The patient is very happy now. The gynaecological examinations are not painful any more. 

Dr Vladimir Kalis

 

To try and help the woman, surgeons decided to carry out surgery using a technique called a Mesh Augmented Vaginal Reconstruction.

This is usually performed on women who have suffered a pelvic organ prolapse and who are experiencing symptoms such as urinary incontinence. 

Because prolapse is associated with weakened internal supportive structures, a graft may be placed to strengthen the repair. 

Pig tissue is often used because its genetic make up is similar to that of humans. 

Vladimir Kalis, head doctor of the gynaecological-obstetrical clinic at the hospital who performed the surgery in February, was pleased with the results.

He said: 'The patient is very happy now. The gynaecological examinations are not painful any more.' 

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