Abstract
We report a rare case of chopstick penetration of the parapharyngeal space. A 48-year-old man who fell down while holding chopsticks was injured in the left temporal region, after which he reported temporal and jaw pain and trismus. The first examination found a small laceration on the temporal skin but no visible foreign body. Computed tomography (CT) showed a slender low-density material in the infratemporal fossa extending to the parapharyngeal space. After general anesthesia was administered the laceration was opened and a fragment of broken chopstick was removed. His postoperative clinical course was uneventful and pain and trismus subsided completely. Given the potentially useful clinical and radiological features of wooden foreign body penetration of the head and neck, we review their ramifications bibliographically.
