Medical Must-See: A drink of superabsorbent beads leads to troubled waters
Orbeez beads can swell to 200 times their orginal size.
A bleary-eyed drink from a misplaced bottle of water landed a young man in ED after ingesting superabsorbent polymer beads, US doctors report.
The 19-year-old had inadvertently ingested hundreds of Orbeez beads, which are used to keep moisture in potted plants or as a children’s toy.
He told doctors he woke at night and went for a drink of water, but sipped from the wrong bottle.
Half an hour later, he was in ED in Ann Arbor, Michigan, complaining of nausea, vomiting and abdominal distension.
