A young woman found herself in a medical emergency after a terrifying mishap involving a popular glass straw. Breezie O’Brien, known to her TikTok followers as @itsbreezie, was enjoying a drink with her favorite reusable glass straw when she suddenly felt something solid glide down her throat.

To her shock, she realized a jagged piece of the straw, measuring over half an inch, had broken off and disappeared inside her. Initially trying to dismiss the alarming incident, she felt fine at first. However, the situation took a turn for the worse two hours later when a large burp left her mouth filled with blood.

Panicked, Breezie rushed to the hospital. Despite her distress, she claims the nursing staff initially downplayed her concerns. Yet, her ordeal was far from over. Upon examination, doctors quickly grasped the gravity of her condition and summoned the gastroenterology team for an urgent CT scan.

The scan revealed the dangerous glass fragment had made its way through her esophagus and was now lodged in her stomach, posing a serious threat to her health. The incident serves as a chilling reminder of the potential risks associated with trendy reusable glass straws.

Rushing to the emergency department, she claims nurses initially dismissed her fears, but her ordeal was only beginning.

Doctors, upon seeing her, immediately sounded the alarm and ordered the gastroenterology team to perform an urgent CT scan. The images revealed that the life-threatening glass splinter had cleared her esophagus and was lodged in her stomach.

She was rushed to the operating room and put under anesthesia for emergency surgery. But as surgeons were preparing to operate, they found that the shard had already travelled out of her stomach and was now moving through her intestinal tract, making it impossible to remove.

‘They said to watch for bleeding over the next two days and to check my poop,’ she told her TikTok audience. ‘They said because it already went through my esophagus and my stomach; most likely it’ll be fine.’

Breezie O’Brien accidentally swallowed a large shard of a glass straw, which traveled through her digestive system and required emergency medical evaluation before doctors determined it would pass naturally

In a TikTok post from her hospital bed on the day of her last-minute canceled procedure, O’Brien filmed herself saying ‘It’s not worth it’ with the caption, ‘PSA: Do not use glass straws.’

The next day, she told her audience what happened but said she felt fine. 

O’Brien had promoted the straws on the TikTok Shop. In this online marketplace, people can buy items promoted by influencers who earn a commission on product sales, all without ever leaving the platform.

In a follow-up video, she pledged never to promote straws again.

Glass straws are popular alternatives to plastic straws. Unlike single-use plastic straws, which are used for minutes and then last in landfills and oceans for centuries, glass straws are designed to be used hundreds of times, reducing plastic pollution.

Some people opt for glass straws because, unlike plastic straws, they do not leach chemicals, such as potential endocrine disruptors, into beverages, even when used with hot drinks.

Glass straws are typically manufactured to withstand high temperatures without breaking, but they are not completely unbreakable. Glass can shatter when exposed to rapid temperature changes, from boiling water to extremely cold water.  

Silicone straws are the safest option by far, especially for children. But the soft texture can be unpleasant to drink from for some people. They can also be more difficult to clean thoroughly. 

And while metal straws are extremely durable, shatterproof and resistant to temperature changes, they are not safe around children.  Falling with a metal straw in one’s mouth could lead to serious oral or facial injuries. 

People often pick glass straws to avoid chemicals found in some plastics. While these straws can handle hot drinks, they can still shatter if exposed to a sudden, drastic temperature change (stock)

if broken, glass can slice through the delicate lining of the esophagus or puncture the stomach, causing severe internal bleeding, catastrophic infection and damage to vital organs. 

The initial route to the stomach is often the most critical and dangerous phase. 

The fact that the shard reached the stomach without immediate severe damage was a significant hurdle cleared. 

Now, O’Brien must wait to pass it naturally in her stool.

In instances like O’Brien’s, doctors generally take a conservative approach. They typically monitor the patient and wait for the object to pass naturally through bowel movements, rather than immediately resorting to risky surgery in the abdomen.

The small intestine is a flexible, muscular tube that moves food along. Its muscular walls create wave-like motions that propel material forward, and its smooth, coiled path offers no sharp edges for an object like a glass shard to snag on.

Still, there is a danger posed by a shard of glass in the intestines. A piece of glass can lodge itself in the intestinal wall, causing a perforation that leaks toxic waste into the abdomen, a life-threatening situation that requires emergency surgery.

A recent 10-year study of emergency room visits revealed that injuries from different types of reusable straws are both common and on the rise, with children under four being the most frequently injured group.

The study tracked 1,174 emergency room visits specifically for plastic, glass and metal straw-related injuries from 2012 to 2021. 

Cuts and mouth injuries were significantly more common with reusable materials than with disposable plastic straws. The study also reported that injuries from metal straws specifically increased by 12.8 percent over the study period.

Researchers found a significant 46 percent increase in these injuries from the beginning to the end of the study period, corresponding to the straws’ rising popularity.

Most of the injuries were the result of simple accidents, such as a child poking themselves in the mouth or eye while drinking. However, nearly half of all injuries occurred when straws were being used improperly, such as during play.