Abstract
We encountered a patient with a foreign body retained in the face, who had remained asymptomatic for as long as 40 years. A 62-year-old man consulted our hospital with a chief complaint of left buccal swelling. The past history included amputation of the right thigh because of a traffic accident 40 years earlier. Plain X-ray and computed tomography revealed an opaque, metal-like image adjacent to the masseteric fascia. A foreign body was excised by facial skin incision under fluoroscopy. The excised material was tungsten. This patient had no past history of facial injury. The foreign body may have entered his face at the time of the traffic accident and was detected when the buccal region became swollen as the result of some irritation.
