When a 65-year-old woman in South Korea visited the hospital for what she believed would be routine arthritis tests, she expected a familiar answer about her swollen, painful knees. Instead, doctors uncovered something extraordinary on her X-ray: her joints were filled with hundreds of tiny gold needles. The surprising discovery shed light on a rare practice that few had ever encountered.
The woman had long been battling osteoarthritis, a condition that wears down cartilage and leaves joints stiff and inflamed. Standard medications brought little relief and carried side effects that became harder to bear. Searching for alternatives, she turned to acupuncture, a respected therapy with deep roots in Asia. But unlike the traditional method, where needles are removed after treatment, this approach involved leaving thin gold needles in her body permanently, with the hope of providing ongoing comfort.
While the treatment may have begun with good intentions, doctors quickly warned of its hidden risks. Any foreign object left in the body can trigger immune reactions, inflammation, or infection. The presence of metal can also make medical imaging less accurate, complicating future diagnoses and care. Physicians stress that while acupuncture can offer real benefits, unconventional variations must be approached with great caution.
Perhaps most concerning, specialists note, is the danger if patients with such implants ever require an MRI. The strong magnetic fields could cause metal fragments to move inside the body, leading to serious internal injury. This unusual case, recently documented in the New England Journal of Medicine, serves as both a medical warning and a reminder: even time-honored remedies should be practiced safely, with careful consideration of modern science alongside traditional wisdom.