DJ Justin Ang gets fly trapped in ear during New York holiday
Radio DJ Justin Ang was buzzing while vacationing in New York City recently.
Unfortunately, it wasn't that kind of buzzing, but more of a literal kind.
Ang, who is one half of Class 95’s The Muttons with Vernon A, shared what happened to him on his trip in a series of Instagram stories.
During his first night in New York, he woke up at around 3am when he felt something crawl into his ears.
He wrote: "I jumped out of bed, tried to shake it out. It wouldn't come out. I can hear it buzzing inside."
The bug apparently started to hit his ear drum, which according to Ang, 39, was excruciating.
His wife poured water into his ears to force the fly out, but while that probably killed the bug, it was still lodged deep in his ear.
So they head to the emergency room at New York University Hospital. A trainee doctor looked into Ang’s ear canal and said: "I see it! Let's get it out."
But two hours and multiple attempts later, the bug is still inside his ear. Ang said the doctors had probably pushed it in even deeper, resulting in more pain.
It took around five hours – and help from the hospital's ENT surgical team – for the pesky little fly to be removed.
Turns out, the perpetrator was a dance fly, a species in the fly group known for its aerial mating swarms.
Some two weeks after the incident, Ang told Mothership.sg his ear was bleeding for a few hours because of the abrasions – but a few antibiotic drops eased the pain.
For now, he’s being extra careful whenever he hears a buzzing noise.
"Whenever I see a fly or hear a buzzing nearby, I instinctively cover my ears. Looks very stupid but once bitten, twice shy," he said.
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