British Man Becomes First Case of Vertical Penile Fracture

A man in the U.K. made medical history this week for all the wrong reasons. He appears to be the first documented case of vertical penile fracture after snapping his penis lengthwise during intercourse. Talk about a bad sexual experience. Hopefully, his member will live on to tell the tale.

Breaking Bad

The groundbreaking case was first reported this week in the British Medical Journal. The article says the man’s “penis buckled against his partner’s perineum,” or the place between the anus and genitals, while thrusting.

He appears to have broken his reproductive organ, which occurs when a person breaks the “rubbery sheath of tissue below the skin that allows the penis to increase in width and length to produce a firm erection.” Experts say it usually occurs during a full erection, which can make it feel like a broken bone.

The study notes that “up to 88.5% of penile fractures occur during sexual intercourse, with a 20-year retrospective study concluding ‘doggy style’ and ‘man on top’ as the two main” positions that endanger penises during intercourse.

“Other lesser reported causes include masturbation, sleeping prone and ‘taqaandan’ (the practice of forcible detumescence performed primarily in Middle Eastern countries),” the report noted.

However, this appears to be the first case of the penis rupturing vertically. MRI scans show a 3-centimeter-long (1-inch) vertical tear running along the right side of the shaft, as opposed to the typical horizontal tear.

The man only suffered minor swelling instead of the usual “popping” sound, rolling of the skin, and other symptoms associated with phallic ruptures.

Providers had to operate on the man within 24 hours to prevent permanent damage, including erectile dysfunction.

Luckily, the surgery went off without a hitch. Researchers say he is back to normal and was able to have sex six months after the procedure. They noted he was able to have “erections of the same quality to those prior to the injury, denying any penile curvature or significant palpable scarring.”

Because this case is the first of its kind, the authors of the study don’t know if vertical phallic ruptures “alter either the presentation or long-term outcomes following operative repair.”

Popping Penises

There have been several other notable cases of people with penises breaking their genitals.

In 2019, Sean Marsden, 48, broke his member in half while having sex with his girlfriend. Looking back on the incident, he said the pain was excruciating and that his penis swelled up with blood until it was the “size of a bottle of wine.”

Doctors operated on the man and sent him home the next day with prescription painkillers. They had to attach a metal rod to his genitals to make sure the tissue would grow back straight and not crooked. They told him not to have sex for a month, but he caved and got physical just three weeks after the operation. He says the first time was painful, but everything went as expected.

“The doctors said if I didn’t have the operation, it could be deformed. It could have had a bend in it. “I am definitely going to be more careful in the future. We need to be more gentle because I can’t afford for that to happen again.”

He’s happy to be back to normal, but he’s still not sure if he can have children after everything that happened.

“I’m not sure when I’ll find out. I have to wait until I go back to the hospital to find out more. “I’d be devastated. I don’t think it will happen but you never know.”

In a more chilling case, doctors discovered a 63-year-old man’s penis was turning to bone after he fell backwards onto the street. The man first arrived at the hospital with knee pain, but providers did an x-ray to look for any broken bones.

Instead, they found “an extensive, plaque-like calcification along the expected distribution of the penis.”

But “no laboratory investigation, histological examination, or follow-up was done” because the patient left before they could run additional tests.

There have only been around 40 cases of penises turning into bone, but this was the first case in which the entire organ seemed to be suffering from ossification.

“Our patient probably presented in the acute phase of his disease due to the presence of a penile pain,” researchers noted.

The condition is often associated with Peyronie’s disease, in which scar tissue develops inside the shaft. Syphilis, gonorrhea, and trauma can also cause bone cells to grow on the genitals. Doctors often use surgery, “stretching,” or vacuum devices to remove the cells.

If these stories didn’t scare you into playing it safe in the bedroom, nothing will. Be nice to you and your partner’s body. Some mistakes can last a lifetime.