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Doctors were stunned when they found a sex toy stuck inside a woman they were treating for weight loss - and it had been there for ten years.

The woman went to hospital saying she was lethargic, incontinent and had been losing weight.

When the 38-year-old, from Aberdeen was given an X-ray, doctors found a five-inch sex toy in her vagina.

The woman, who has not been named, was found to be suffering a urinary blockage, and was diagnosed with vesicovaginal fistula, a condition which allows urine to flow into the vagina.

She said she had used the toy during a drunken night with a partner 10 years before, and could not remember removing it.

After surgeons removed the toy, the woman made a full recovery.

Experts writing in the Journal of Sexual Medicine said: "This case describes an extremely rare but potentially life-threatening case of obstructive uropathy caused by a chronically retained sex toy and adds to the list of potentially rare causes of a vesicovaginal fistula."

They listed more than 40 cases involving other objects, including plastic aerosol caps which had been inserted as contraception.

Other items that have been discovered include a hairspray cap, a plastic cup and a child’s toy.

In one case in 2009, doctors discovered a 3x5 cm foreign body in a 72-year-old woman’s vagina - but she and the doctors were unable to work out what it was.

Doctors say people often deny knowledge of such items, due to embarrassment.