A 32-year-old US man is recovering in hospital after spending a day with a three-and-a-half inch nail in his head.

The suburban Chicago man had discharged the nail from a gun as he carried out some work in the garage of his home in Orland Park.

He thought the errant nail had whizzed past his head - but instead, it lodged in his brain.

Family members say Dante Autullo saw a small wound, but could not find the nail and did not think much of it.

He went to work the next day but later went to the hospital complaining of nausea and a monster of a headache. An X-ray uncovered the nail in his brain.

Mr Autullo is recovering after a four-hour operation to have the nail removed.

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