10:04am UK, Friday January 02, 2004

An unlucky patient went into surgery bearing the words "I love women" tattooed on his leg but when he came out it read "I love men".

The unnamed man was in hospital for a heart-by-pass operation.

But surgeons had to take out part of a large vein in his leg to replace a section of blocked artery in his chest.

When they sewed up the leg wound, they removed the first two letters of the word "women", the Daily Mirror says.

The patient says he has been left too embarassed to wear shorts in public.

Leeds General Infirmary, where the operation was carried out, said: "Part of the tattoo was accidentally erased."

The British Medical Journal later printed a picture of the tattoo, warning doctors to be careful when sewing up tattooed skin.