It is exceptional to "forget" a compress in a operative wound, but the consequence are important. We report 25 cases of textilomes operated over a period of 18 years. There were 18 cases involving visceral surgery and 7 involving bone surgery. Sixty percent of the patients were women and 82% were adults. Emergency surgery was required in 70% of the bone operations and in only 33% of the visceral indications. Twelve percent of the cases were discovered fortuitously and 40% led to pain or occlusion, 24% leading to a digestive tract fistula and 24% to an inflammatory tumour formation. Standard X-rays and echography were sufficient for diagnosis in the abdominal cases. CT scan or MRI may be useful. Ablation of the abdominal foreign body was the followed by complications in two-thirds of the cases with a mortality of 25%. No deaths were observed in the other localizations but the functional result was impaired. We reviewed the literature reporting 117 such cases.