You know those weird news stories you read on Yahoo! from AP and Reuters? Well, here's a true story that would fit right in.

My large-nostriled brother just went through quite a scare. He has always harbored a deep rooted concern about excessive nose hair. But his efforts to trim the problem had some unexpected consequences this week.

It seems that one of his nose hair follicles became infected early this week. After a couple days, the bugger started to swell. By Wednesday it had developed into a full-blown staph infection and required urgent hospitalization. Oral antibiotics just weren't doing the trick, and his face was literally looking like the elephant man. 

The pain was so severe that morphine wasn't even taking the edge off. By Thursday night the IV antibiotics were winning the battle. All that's left now is a large pustule that requires an occasional Q-tip dredging.

Upon returning from the hospital, the first thing my brother did was throw out his nose hair clippers. It's just too risky to keep on using them.