It was a disturbing moment at Sanhe Hospital in Huiyang, South China when doctors discovered a family of tiny cockroaches living inside a man’s ear.

Unsuspecting Mr Lv, 24, wanted to get to the bottom of his head problem when he was taken to Hospital.

He said he felt a sharp pain in his right ear while sleeping so his family members shone a torch into his ear canal. They found what appeared to be a large cockroach inside.

Ear, nose and throat specialist Zhong Yijin recalled: “He said his ear hurt a lot, like something was scratching or crawling inside. It caused a lot of discomfort.

“I discovered more than ten cockroach babies inside. They were already running around.

The newly hatched nymphs, which were small and lighter in colour than their black and brown mother, were of the German cockroach species Blattella germanica, the hospital said.

Doctor Zhong plucked the tiny insects from Mr Lv’s right ear one by one using a pair of tweezers, before also removing the much larger mother roach.

According to the hospital, Mr Lv suffered minor injuries to his right ear canal. He was prescribed with ointment and cream, and discharged on the same day.

The hospital’s head of ENT, Li Jinyuan, told local media that Mr Lv had a habit of leaving unfinished food packets near his bed, attracting parasites such as cock Roaches.

Female cockroaches carry up to 40 eggs, reports say.