MadSci Network: Other
Query:

Re: Some performers eat razor blades. How are they doing this without dieing?

Date: Wed Jul 7 13:41:54 1999
Posted By: David Auerbach, M.D., Medicine, York Hospital
Area of science: Other
ID: 922726978.Ot
Message:

Surprisingly, no special preparation is needed although if one is going to 
eat razor blades, perhaps prefrontal lobotomy should be considered.  
Actually the ingestion of amazingly bazaar objects occurs routinely in the 
prison population as time in the hospital is considered preferable to time 
in a jail cell.  I have seen prisoners who have ingested razor blades, 
straight pins, flatware service for 4, lightbulbs, mattress springs, etc.  
This can be done with relative safety for two reasons.  First the 
intestines are surprisingly tough.  Try cutting into raw chitterlings for 
proof.  Secondly, during peristalsis the nerve endings within the GI tract 
recognize that a sharp object is hanging around and will stop squeezing.  
The major danger areas are the esophagus and the anus.  It is hard to pass 
a sharp object without getting cut, but it is a superficial wound.  
Occassionally smaller objects such as pins will work their way out of the 
intestines and cause major problems, but this is the exception rather than 
the rule.



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