This why our mams said wash behind your ears.

A 19-year-old Chinese man was in the middle of a routine visit to the hospital for an earache when his doctor discovered the root of his pain was actually a cockroach.

Mr. Li, his full name wasn't released, awoke in the middle of the night complaining of a pain and some itching in his ear. The pain forced him to make the trip to the Chang'an Xiaobian Hospital in Dongguan, where his doctor "saw an insect-shaped object blocking his ear canal completely".

Quickly removing the object, he discovered it to be a 0.3 inch long female cockroach. Unfortunately for Mr. Li, that's not where the ordeal ended, as his doctors found a further 25 baby cockroaches in his ear, having suspected the mother of laying her eggs in Li's ear canal.

According to his doctors, had Li not turned up to the hospital when he did, his ear "would have been destroyed".

Yeah, we could have told you that, and we'd imagine a lot more than just his ear would have been wrecked. A female cockroach can carry 40 babies at a time, with i taking them three to four months to grow to their full size. Thankfully Mr. Li got this sorted early, because we can't even think about 26 fully-formed roaches rolling around someone's ear. 

Via Independent.co.uk