An unusual complication of penile piercing

Abstract

When the BJPS gained the prestigious subtitle of ‘An International Journal of Surgical Reconstruction’,1EditorialSpot the difference.BJPS. 2003; 56: 315-316Google Scholar I thought this would reinforce the status of the journal. However, the case report titled ‘An unusual complication of penile piercing: a report and literature’ was accepted for publication.2McLeod TM, Adeniran S. An unusual complication of penile piercing: a report and literature review. BJPS 2004;57(5):462–4.Google Scholar This paper describes the tale of a patient who underwent a Prince Albert piercing, but after insertion of a larger ring the piercing tract gradually broke down. Unfortunately, the history of this patient is very incomplete. He is no novice to body piercing and might have chosen this method of stretching to achieve a meatotomy. This is practiced to increase the sensitivity of the penis, because the distal urethra is very sensitive proximal to the meatus. The appearance of the penile glans is more of an incomplete meatotomy than of a glanular hypospadia! Furthermore, the management of the presented problem remains a mystery, the authors failed to share their therapeutic (if required at all) solution to this problem.The accompanying literature review is poorly presented and incomplete. The authors mention that glanular destruction has not been reported in the literature. The British Medical Journal, however, did mention the healing problems with genital piercings and should, therefore, have been cited.3Ferguson H. Body piercing.BMJ. 1999; 7225: 1627-1629Google Scholar In nonmedical literature, the problems presented are well recognised. A good starting point for the novice to not just body piercing but a variety of body modifications is probably http://www.bmezine.com. When the BJPS gained the prestigious subtitle of ‘An International Journal of Surgical Reconstruction’,1EditorialSpot the difference.BJPS. 2003; 56: 315-316Google Scholar I thought this would reinforce the status of the journal. However, the case report titled ‘An unusual complication of penile piercing: a report and literature’ was accepted for publication.2McLeod TM, Adeniran S. An unusual complication of penile piercing: a report and literature review. BJPS 2004;57(5):462–4.Google Scholar This paper describes the tale of a patient who underwent a Prince Albert piercing, but after insertion of a larger ring the piercing tract gradually broke down. Unfortunately, the history of this patient is very incomplete. He is no novice to body piercing and might have chosen this method of stretching to achieve a meatotomy. This is practiced to increase the sensitivity of the penis, because the distal urethra is very sensitive proximal to the meatus. The appearance of the penile glans is more of an incomplete meatotomy than of a glanular hypospadia! Furthermore, the management of the presented problem remains a mystery, the authors failed to share their therapeutic (if required at all) solution to this problem. The accompanying literature review is poorly presented and incomplete. The authors mention that glanular destruction has not been reported in the literature. The British Medical Journal, however, did mention the healing problems with genital piercings and should, therefore, have been cited.3Ferguson H. Body piercing.BMJ. 1999; 7225: 1627-1629Google Scholar In nonmedical literature, the problems presented are well recognised. A good starting point for the novice to not just body piercing but a variety of body modifications is probably http://www.bmezine.com.