Kiss of deaf: passionate 10-minute smooch with girlfriend on Chinese Valentine’s Day leaves man with ruptured eardrum, loss of hearing
- Lovers kiss beside scenic lake leaves man with perforated eardrum which needs trip to emergency room
- Doctors prescribe antibiotics to fix problem but experts say in serious cases surgery is required
The story of a man in China whose eardrum ruptured as he and his girlfriend engaged in a passionate 10-minute kiss has captivated mainland social media.
Hangzhou TV reported that on Chinese Valentine’s Day on August 22, the man and his girlfriend locked in a passionate embrace beside the scenic West Lake in China’s eastern Zhejiang province.
During the kiss, the man said he heard a bubbling sound and felt pain in his left ear which left him unable to hear properly.
The couple rushed to a hospital where doctors discovered his eardrum was perforated. He was told it would take two months to recover.
Medics say passionate smooching can lead to a rapid change in air pressure inside the ear. This, combined with the heavy breathing of a partner, causes an imbalance leading to a puncture, the report said.
It is not the first time such a thing has happened.
Last month, the same thing occurred when a couple were watching TV at home in Guangdong province, southern China.
Apart from kissing, other behaviours that may cause a perforated eardrum include fighting, road accidents, diving and flying.
For most patients, the underlying cause of such ruptures is tympanitis, according to a post on baidu.com by Zhang Jun, a doctor from the otolaryngology department of Mudanjiang Forestry Hospital in the northeastern Heilongjiang province.
In less serious cases, a course of antibiotics and keeping the ear dry fixes the problem. But in more extreme examples of perforation, surgery is required.
The Hangzhou incident has captivated mainland social media, with the story receiving 1 million likes and 400,000 comments on Douyin alone.
“The world is so big that it is home to a myriad of weird things,” one person said.
Another online observer said: “It turns out that love really can deafen the ear with its roar.”
“This is why I don’t want to find a partner. It’s too dangerous,” quipped another.
