A 42-year-old Boston man had to undergo emergency surgery after breaking the fibrous membrane of his penis during sex. The violent incident occurred when the man accidentally slammed his penis into a woman’s perineum (the area between the anus and vagina). That’s when he heard a “snap.”
The New England Journal of Medicine documented the penile fracture in their latest issue (the link contains an extremely NSFW image).
He heard a snap, noticed a rush of blood from the meatus, had immediate detumescence, and had severe pain. The penile “fracture” refers to a tear in the tunica albuginea, the watertight fibrous outer sheath of the corpora cavernosa that is responsible for maintaining the structural integrity of an erection. Disruption of the tunica results in a loss of blood outside the corpora, causing a hematoma. The classic eggplant deformity (swelling, discoloration, and deviation away from the defect in the tunica) can be seen.
What does meatus, detumescence and tunica albuginea even mean? Don’t know, don’t care. Broken penis is making me cringe.
Because the incident involved swelling, discoloration and bending of the penis, the result was something the NEJM referred to as “eggplant deformity.” Are you still with us? Good. Because there’s a happy ending (no pun intended) in all of this.
After six months, the man regained erectile function without surgery. Hooray!
There’s probably a lesson here in all of this. A lesson about rough sex and/or aiming properly mid-coitus. It can best be summarized with this gif.
Bullseye!