In world's 1st known case, man tears windpipe from holding sneeze

An X-ray of the man's neck revealed that he had pockets of air trapped underneath the skin of his neck, as shown by the arrows above.  (Image credit: BMJ Case Reports 2023)

In the first known case of its kind, a man tore a small hole in his windpipe after attempting to hold in a sneeze. 

The odd event occurred while the man was driving his car and experiencing a bout of hay fever. He suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to sneeze, but instead of letting the sneeze loose, he stifled it by pinching his nose and closing his mouth.