CHINESE surgeons saved a mans life after he accidentally swallowed a pair of nail scissors he was using to clean his teeth. These are the astonishing X-rays that show how surgeons saved a mans life after he cut his throat with a pair of scissors - from the inside. Lin Kong had borrowed a four-inch-long pair of nail scissors to use instead of a toothpick to clean his teeth after a meal. But as one of his friends told a joke, the 27-year-old laughed and swallowed the clippers. As he tried to cough up the scissors, the points, which were facing upwards, dug deeper into his throat, causing serious damage. Chen Wei, a surgeon at the hospital in Putian, eastern China, said: When he came in, his face was twisted, pale, and [he was] sweating. The patient was having difficulty swallowing and blood was mixed with his saliva. X-rays showed that the scissors had completely entered the mans oesophagus, with the sharp points sticking up into the epiglottis. Surgeons could only operate under local anaesthetic, as general anaesthetic would have relaxed his body so much that the scissors would have slipped deeper down the throat. The entire surgery took around 30 minutes. Luckily Mr Lin does not have much of a wound left inside his throat, said Dr Chen. TG