Tattoo Artist Removes Needle From His Insides 40 Years Later

If you're a do-it-yourself tattoo artist, you must accept the fact that you're going to lose a needle or two inside your body.

At least, that was the case for Ulf Bergstrom who, in the 1970s, lost a needle in his arm. A few days ago -- 40 years after the incident -- Bergstrom found and removed the needle. From his toe.

"I completely forgot about it," Bergstrom said, according to Noran. "It's been in my body for 40 years. The only question is which route it has taken, that is something I would like to know."

We'd like to know, too. Somehow the needle made its way through the Swedish man's body over the course of four decades and never caused a problem until recently. Even visits to the doctor and X-rays didn't turn up the missing metal.

Bergstrom told the local that his wife helped him pull it out after he developed severe pain in his right foot, according to The Local. She pricked the blood-filled pimple that was growing on his toe, which "squeezed out a lot of puss and shit," Newser reports.

By "shit," Bergstrom means a half-inch needle. He recognized it instantly as the one he lost in his body.

These days, he's doing fine -- and hopefully steering clear of needles -- except for a constant pain in his big toe.