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Doctors who removed more than a dozen maggots from a man's skull say the rare infestation saved his life.

Labourer Pham Quang Lanh, 28, had a titanium plate inserted over his skull after an iron bar fell off a building and struck him in the head.

Over a year later, when the injury became swollen, doctors found maggots living under his skin, which remarkably stopped the spread of infection by eating the dead tissue around the wound.

Lanh, from Vietnam, said: "It had healed up pretty well and although I had headaches occasionally, it was mostly okay a year ago when I noticed it was swollen and sore to touch.

(Image: CEN)

"I didn't want to go to hospital again because I hoped it would heal on its own and even now three years later I'm still paying the bill back for the last operation. I just couldn't afford another medical bill."

But when he asked his family to look at the wound, they saw maggots under his skin, and instantly took him to the Hanoi’s Viet Duc Hospital.

Dr Nguyen Duc Anh said: "When his scar swelled a year ago, he did not go to hospital because of financial reasons.

"In fact the reason that it was swollen was because it was infected, and eventually some tissue had died leaving him with the festering injury.

"When we took him into surgery we discovered several maggots which were removed. We then needed to carry out a full operation to remove the maggots that had managed to go deeper."

But he said that the maggot infestation, which were sent away for tests and were probably from a fly leaving eggs there, had saved his life.

He said: "This sort of fly infestation is extremely rare, especially in the skull.

"I found eight references to it in medical literature worldwide and in every case the other patient died.

"In this man's case however the maggots had not gone on to eat any of his brain because of the metal plate, and actually may have kept him alive by eating the dead tissue that might otherwise have made the infection spread more quickly and killed him."

The use of maggots to cleanse wounds is well known in historical medical practices as they can remove necrotic tissue and also disinfect the wound.