He inserts three batteries into his urethra, “for pleasure purposes”: his penis swells and becomes necrotic.

A recent issue of Urology Case Reports reads, “To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of urethral necrosis with button battery insertion. After waiting 24 hours, a 73-year-old man decided to go to the emergency room after having three button batteries inserted into his urethra. The man confided that he was used to such practice for purposes of “self-satisfaction” and so far he had always succeeded in removing these 1.3 cm wide batteries.

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Unfortunately, “button batteries are corrosive and tissue liquefaction and necrosis can occur within two hours,” doctors say. They had a very difficult time operating: “Battery removal was attempted at the bedside using stent forceps, baskets and arterial forceps. However, the patient had difficulty tolerating the procedure and was abandoned”. Forceps surgery was required. “All the extracted batteries were covered in a black tar-like material. After removing all the batteries the urethra was re-examined: burns were noted in the wider circumference of the urethra anterior to the penis,” the team said.

Total penile transplant

Ten days later and despite treatment with antibiotics, the septuagenarian complained of swelling of his penis and discharge from his urethra. Doctors found a large amount of pus in his penis and “an 8 cm segment of necrotic urethra near the meatus with necrosis of the surrounding corpus spongiosum.” After the patient was operated on again, they recommended him to undergo a new penile transplant. “Given the complexity of his injury, it was felt that formal penile urethral reconstruction would likely require a 3-stage repair consisting of oral mucosa graft urethroplasty, followed by 6 months of grafting, then ‘second graft placement to achieve complete urethral tubulation’. .

And the medical team concludes: “Our case shows that button batteries can cause harmful effects on the genitourinary system and require immediate removal to avoid further tissue damage and long-term complications”.