A man who complained of headaches found they were caused by an infestation of maggots - which had inadvertently saved him from a deadly infection . Vietnamese labourer Pham Quang Lanh , 28 , had a metal plate inserted over his skull after being struck by an iron bar on a building site . But the botched operation caused his head to become swollen with a potentially deadly infection . Fearing he could n't afford any further medical treatment , Mr Lanh hoped the resulting headaches would eventually subside . It was only when he asked family to look at the wound that they noticed a dozen maggots crawling under the skin and they took him to the Hanoi 's Viet Duc Hospital . Grim discovery : Vietnamese labourer Pham Quang Lanh shows the wound in his head where a maggot infestation had taken hold following a botched operation to repair an earlier head injury with a metal plate . Dr Nguyen Duc Anh , a neurosurgeon at the hospital , said : 'When his scar swelled a year ago , he did not go to hospital because of financial reasons . 'In fact , the reason that it was swollen was because it was infected and eventually some tissue had died , leaving him with the festering injury . 'When we took him into surgery , we discovered several maggots which were removed . 'We then needed to carry out a full operation to remove the maggots that had managed to go deeper . ' But he said the infestation had actually saved Mr Lanh 's life by eating the infected tissue . He said : 'This sort of fly infestation is extremely rare especially in the skull . ' I found eight references to it in medical literature worldwide and in every case the other patients died . 'In this man 's case , however , the maggots had not gone on to eat any of his brain because of the metal plate . 'They actually may have kept him alive by eating the dead tissue that might otherwise have made the infection spread more quickly and killed him . ' Lifesavers : Doctors say the maggots ( above ) ate diseased tissue that could have caused a fatal infection . The use of maggots to cleanse wounds is well known as they can remove necrotic tissue and also disinfect the wound . Mr Lanh suffered his initial head injury while working as a labourer in Malaysia . After surgery to insert a titanium plate , the wound appeared to heal well , although he did suffer headaches occasionally . He said : 'It was mostly OK until a year ago when I noticed it was swollen and sore to touch . ' I did n't want to go to hospital again because I hoped it would heal on its own and even now three years later I 'm still paying the bill back for the last operation . ' I just could n't afford another medical bill . '
Labourer Pham Quang Lanh had metal plate inserted in head after injury . The incident occurred on March 31 at the factory of a company called Dong Hai Industrial Co. Ltd, which produces steel and aluminum products. Family spotted maggot infestation after he repeatedly complained of pain . Surgeons say the maggots had eaten the infected tissue but not his brain .