A woman who felt a 'burning' headache has astounded medics after a live cockroach was found crawling around in her skull.
Domestic helper Selvi, 42, said she woke up in the middle of the night suffering from a 'crawling sensation' in her right nostril and a 'burning' feeling in her head.
Scans revealed the creepy crawly was sitting in the skull base between her eyes.
Medics were stunned after discovering the live insect inside the woman's skull after it crawled through her nose
Baffled doctors were forced to used clamps and a sucker to get it out in a tricky 45 minute procedure.
If she had ignored the scratchy sensation, experts believe, the insect would have died and caused an infection close to her brain.
Selvi, from Injambakkam, India, who does not want to give her full name, said: 'My immediate reaction after feeling that crawling sensation in the right nostril was to brush it off in half sleep.
Grim: Footage of the operation shows the insect lodged in the woman's skull
If it remained in place, the cockroach would have died and infected the patient's brain
'But before I could do anything, it went inside. I could not explain the feeling but I was sure it was some insect.
'There was a tingling and crawling sensation. Whenever it moved, it gave me a burning sensation in my eyes.'
She rushed with her son to the nearest clinic, but claimed nobody could find anything wrong.
The following day, still feeling unwell, she went to the state-run Stanley Medical College Hospital, in Chennai, where doctors found the live insect.
Shocked doctors removed the insect in a 45 minute procedure in Chennai, India
Medics were baffled by the cockroach, which became lodged in the woman's skull between her eyes
Dr M N Shankar, head of the ENT department at the hospital, said: 'This is the first such case I have seen in my three decades of practice.
'It was sitting in the skull base, between the two eyes, close to the brain.
'If left inside, it would have died before long and the patient would have developed infection which would have spread to the brain.
'It was difficult to remove it because of the place it was sitting in.
'I had to first drag it to a place from where I could pull it out. It was finally removed after 45 minutes.'
The woman made the grim discovery in Injambakkam in Chennai, India
