Girl, 13, nearly dies after swallowing magnetic ball bearings she used as a fake tongue piercing



Teenagers have always gone to great lengths to keep up with the latest trends.

But following fashion almost cost a 13-year-old girl in Colorado her life after she swallowed a set of magnetic ball bearings, which she wore to give the illusion of having a pierced tongue.



The powerful magnets could have burned a hole right through Lauren Garcia's intestines.

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Lucky to be alive: Lauren Garcia, 13, had to have surgery after she accidentally swallowed the magnetic ball bearings she used as a fake tongue piercing

She told Fox 31: 'I could have died if I had waited to come to the hospital.'

The tiny ball bearings - known as 'buckyballs' - are sold as an executive desk toy which can be moulded into any shape.

But some teenagers are using them as fake tongue rings to make it look as though they have a piercing.

If swallowed, the balls can cause serious damage, burrowing through the small intestine. The packaging warns of the danger, and says they are not suitable for children.

Warning: Lauren used powerful magnetic buckyballs as a fake tongue ring, but they clearly state they can cause 'serious injury or death' if swallowed

Lauren, who lives in Wheat Ridge, rung her mother last week in tears, complaining she couldn't walk because of an intense pain in her side.

She said: 'They bounced off my tooth and went down my throat, and I couldn't stop it.'

Lauren is now in hospital recovering after an operation to remove the magnets.



Her surgeon, Dr Saundra Kay, told the channel: 'You have one strong magnet in one loop of intestine, another magnet in another loop of intestine, and those magnets are so strong that they will bring those intestines close together and the two loops joined.

Awareness: Lauren's mother, Andrea Ulibarri, said she has warned her daughter's headmaster about the trend which nearly cost her daughter her life

'Slowly those magnets will burrow through the intestines and it makes a hole.'

Images from Lauren's CAT scan clearly show the tiny magnets, and the hole they were beginning to create through her small intestine.

Her mother, Andrea Ulibarri, said she had told her daughter to get rid of the dake rings.

She said: 'Of course I got upset and I had asked her what is in your mouth, then she said, "They come out mommy, look," and she showed me.



'I could have died': Lauren's CAT scan clearly shows the magnetic balls, which stuck to her small intestine and began burrowing through it

I told her "you need to throw those away".'

Ms Ulibarri told the channel she has warned her daughter's headmaster at Cesar Chavez Academy about the trend.

Lauren will have to write an essay on her experience as a punishment, she said, and to 'educate the school about what happened so hopefully this doesn't happen again.'



