The nature of the man's horrific injuries may have been a world first. Photo / 123RF
The nature of the man's horrific injuries may have been a world first. Photo / 123RF
Warning: Graphic content
A man who suffered a gunshot wound to his penis has had his experience recorded in a medical journal, with researchers noting the incident was possibly a first in medical history.
The man, 28, presented to a New York City hospital, suffering the gunshot through the end of his penis, according to details in Science Direct.
The man reportedly wouldn't tell doctors how he sustained the gunshot wound, but a doctor told The Daily Mail he'd seen similar injuries handed out as punishments for those associated with crime.
The gunshot in an intimate area was similar to a kneecapping injury, doled out as a punishment, reports news.com.au.
Doctors who authored a report on the wounding believed the nature of the man's horrific injuries may have been a world first.
"Less than 1 per cent of civilian trauma involves the penis, making penile trauma a rare occurrence, let alone penile injury from a gunshot wound," the journal notes.
"Indeed, a tertiary hospital in a large metropolitan area cited an average incidence of only three cases of gunshot wounds involving the penis per year."
The man's injury, to his "left distal corpus cavernosum", has reportedly never before been recorded.
The bullet became lodged in the man's thigh after being shot through his penis. Photo / Supplied
The case was recorded in the medical journal, as "the first explicitly reported case of successful primary repair" of this kind of injury, where a bullet passes "through-and-through" the penis.
The man consented to his story being told, without his name being used, before it was shared by the journal.
X-rays and horror photos show how the bullet had travelled through the end of his penis, and became lodged in his thigh.
After operating on the man to stop the bleeding, doctors then carried out an "intraoperative artificial erection test". They found that he'd suffered defects in his penis, causing it to curve to the left.
However, after six weeks, with wound care, the patient was able to achieve a normal erection.
Discussed in the paper were the relatively more common experience of injuries sustained to the penis, by gunshot, in war.
"Contrary to war experiences which emphasise operative exploration of all penetrating penile trauma, recent civilian series have demonstrated successful conservative management of approximately 30 per cent of patients with bullet wounds to the penis.
"Unlike the battlefield, civilian gunshot wounds come from lower velocity projectiles, which tend to create just focal damage."
The paper said civilian patients are likely to have good outcomes with wound care.
