A 25-year-old woman who was stung by a sea urchin when surfing in Jialeshuei (佳樂水) near Kenting (墾丁) had to undergo surgery after failing to remove the spine completely, a doctor said of the case.
After being stung by a sea urchin while surfing and removing the spine herself, a woman the doctor called A-miao (not her real name) said she still felt stinging pain in the foot and thought it was due to the wound not having healed. However, even after a second application of medicine, the wound did not get better, and without returning for follow-ups, A-miao developed severe pain in her swollen, injured foot within a few days.
The physician found at least half of a sea urchin spine was stuck in her foot when A-miao re-visited the hospital for medicine. Surgery was immediately undertaken to remove the spine following the discovery via X-ray.
Hengchun Tourism Hospital superintendent Tseng Kung-yen (曾孔彥) said symptoms of cellulitis had already developed when the patient arrived at the hospital, which led him to suspect that there was a foreign object in the foot that had caused the infection. An X-ray examination found a 1.5cm sea urchin spine in the foot buried 5cm deep under the skin, he said.
A-miao has recovered well since the surgery, but regular follow-ups and applications of medicine are still required, he added.
“I’m surprised that she could have endured the pain for 20 days,” said Chen Ming-chih (陳明智), the vice superintendent who was in charge of the operation, adding that if she had waited until the cellulitis worsened, she could have lost her foot.
Lee Chan-jung (李展榮), a marine biologist at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Pingtung County, said there are two kinds of poisonous sea urchins commonly seen in Taiwan: Toxopneustes pileolus, commonly known as the flower urchin, which stings with a neurotoxin, and Tripneustes gratilla, or the collector urchin, which inflicts a protein toxin.
While the Diadema setosum, or long-spined sea urchin, that had stung A-miao was not poisonous, its dense, long spines — which can reach 30cm — are armed with tiny hooks, Lee said.
A long spine with hooks can break off easily and remain in the body even though the person may think that it has been completely removed, causing the wound to fester and develop cellulitis.
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