case study: tattoo leaves man semi-erect for life

the writing was on the…  er,  wall for a 21-year-old iranian  man  in  after he decided to  honour  his girlfriend by getting a tattoo on his penis.  

proving romance is alive and well, the man willingly paid real money to have the words “ borow  be  salaamat ” — a persian phrase meaning “good luck with your journeys” — permanently etched on his penis ,  according to a 2012 livescience  article . he included the letter m, the first initial of his girlfriend’s last name ,  so there could be no doubt  about the special lady  in his life .  

unfortunately, not unlike cupid’s arrow, the tattoo needle went awry and caused deep tissue bleeding that resulted in eight days of pain and left the man’s  member  in a permanent state of semi-erection known as priapism. the condition is typified by a persistent erection that isn’t caused by sexual stimulation or one that endures hours beyond sexual activity  has ended ,  according the mayo clinic . it usually affects men 30 years of age or older and requires immediate attention to avoid the risk of permanent erectile dysfunction.  numbers are hard to come by, but a study in the  journal of sexual medicine  found 8,700 men in the u.s. visited emergency rooms with priapism over one three-year period.  

the patient in this case  waited  three months to seek medical attention and initially  l ied  to doctors about how he went from grower to shower in the  span  of a day.  “the patient initially stated that the tattoo had been created years ago, but later admitted  that he had it created just before the occurrence of priapism,”  doctors wrote in his case study . “a traditional tattooist created the tattoo manually, using a handheld needle. bleeding from deep penile tissue for several days complicated the tattooing.”  

before  the   man  came clean about his less than enjoyable journey, doctors investigated and ruled out other possible  causes  — such as a urinary tract infection, syphilis and leukemia —  while in search of the   real  culprit.  he  was soon diagnosed with the first known case of nonischemic priapism, a  version of the  condition that ensues when blood enters the penis faster than it  can drain out . the resulting pressure results in an enduring state of semi-erection.    

this   version  is less serious than ischemic priapism, which results when  a patient has an erection but  blood is no longer flowing in or out of the penis. permanent damage can result without prompt medical attention.  

to relieve the situation, doctors referred the patient to have a shunt inserted to allow the excess blood to be drained. unfortunately, the procedure did not work and the man decided to forego further surgery and  simply  live  life  as is .   

“at present, the patient continues to have priapism,” the doctors wrote. “because of the painless nature of erections, moderately good preservation of erectile function during intercourses and disappointment with former surgery, the patient declined further therapies, and he lives with his condition. ”  

anyone with an unwanted erection that endures for more than four hours is strongly encouraged to seek medical attention. and while the 21-year-old in this case said he had no regrets about turning his penis into a fortune cookie, his doctors — and, let’s face it, common sense — strongly advise against it.  

dave  yasvinski  is a writer with   healthing.ca    

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case study: tattoo leaves man semi-erect for life

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