Prepare yourself for another bizarre and unfortunate tale involving a penis. We’ve heard about bones forming inside, tweezers getting stuck, and now we have a man injecting motor oil into his member for “genital augmentation” purposes. Yes, you read that right.
This shocking incident took place in Uruguay, where a man visited a Male Genital Dermatology Unit with a massive “tumorous mass” that had been growing on his penile shaft for a mind-boggling 10 years. Despite experiencing sexual dysfunction, he claimed to have no other negative symptoms related to the growth. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans revealed that the mass was confined to the dermal and hypodermal tissues. After two skin biopsies, it was determined to be a penile sclerosing granuloma.
Penile sclerosing granuloma is a reaction to the injection of foreign substances, often used in attempts to alter the appearance of the genitals. It typically results in a grotesque deformity of the penis. These injected materials can include lipids, hydrocarbons, silicone, methacrylates, and fillers made from collagen or hyaluronic acid.
Interestingly, the patient adamantly denied undergoing any local procedures. However, he later confessed to self-injecting motor oil and refused any form of treatment. Consequently, he continues to live with this abnormal growth.
Similar cases of penile sclerosing granuloma caused by self-injections have been reported in the past. For instance, a man from Myanmar injected mineral oil into his penis, requiring a skin graft phalloplasty for repair. Another study from 2003 documented 357 men who injected Vaseline, paraffin, or other mineral oils to increase their penis circumference. Many of these individuals were driven by a desire to appear more “manly” or influenced by friends who had also undergone such injections.
What sets this particular case apart is the authors’ description of the growth having an iridescent rainbow pattern, displaying the entire spectrum of visible light. This phenomenon has been associated with various inflammatory lesions and tumors in the past, with the first documented example appearing in 2009 in Kaposi’s sarcoma. However, this rainbow effect has never been observed in penile sclerosing granuloma.
The authors speculate that this iridescent appearance is due to “dichroism,” resulting from the interaction of polarized light with local structures like collagen and lipids. These structures have variations in their refractive index, causing changes in the reflected light that is transmitted in different wavelengths and perceived as different colors.
