HOUSTON – Ingesting Tide pods, cinnamon and ghost peppers -- those are just some of the dangerous online trends that have emerged in recent years, but another is appearing with potentially deadly results: snorting an unwrapped condom up one’s nostril.
The stunt has been around for years, but recently has had a resurgence, stoked by social media posts, USA Today reported.
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The challenge is to snort an unwrapped condom up a nostril and inhale it until the condom comes out of the mouth.
Dr. Leonard Zwelling, Houston author of “Congressional Malpractice: Is Access to Affordable Health Care a Right or a Privilege,” said there are multiple things that could go wrong with this kind of stunt.
“It could get caught in your sinuses, (and then moving down your throat), you could aspirate it and die,” Zwelling said. “That would be very easy to understand. It’s like aspirating anything else. What you would say is ‘going down the wrong pipe.’”
Zwelling added that the length of the condom could also be an issue when it gets to the back of the throat.
“That’s where the danger is,” Zwelling said. “Getting it to the back of the throat and then getting it caught.”
Zwelling said people who do this kind of thing could also end up swallowing the condom.
“It’s not dangerous, but sort of foolish,” he said. “I can’t believe people are really doing this.”
Oh, yes, they are: