The practice of self-inserted penile prostheses as pleasure devices seems to be expanding among the general, selleck chemicals Western population, and there seem to be new trends in this practice on the basis of the published literature. First, the practice seems to be diffusing into the United States prison system similar to the practice seen in Asia and Australia. Second, the change in venue and clientele has led to the adoption of different shapes used for the prostheses placed. There are now multiple case reports of US inmates placing penile implants.4 and 5 Similar to the 3 cases reported by Hudak et al, our current case involves an inmate in the United States prison who self-inserted a domino fragment into

the ventrum of his penis. Incidentally, the patient mentioned that some of his fellow inmates have performed similar implants. This was

corroborated by the prison guards accompanying the patient, and this, along with the report by Yap et al is growing evidence that this practice is more common in the penal system than reported in the medical literature.3 What were traditionally glass spheres have become dominos whittled to inhibitors irregular shapes.5 In our current case, the object was a shaved down domino shaped similar to a dog bone. This change of shape may be what has affected the natural progression of these implants. In the reports by Thomson and Tsunenari, very few of the reported cases resulted in explantation of the prosthesis because of erosion or infection.4 and 5 In the report by Griffith, none of the 4 presented cases Bioactive Compound Library molecular weight required explantation of the self-inserted spheres.4 In contrast, in the cases reported by Hudak et al, placement of these irregularly shaped foreign bodies each required explantation secondary to infection.5 Similar to the patients presented by Hudak et al, our patient required explantation of his foreign body. However, this was for erosion and not infection, which has not been previously reported in TCL the literature, indicating the natural history of placement of penile foreign bodies can have

a wide spectrum of end points. Penile subcutaneous implantation has long been used for sexual enhancement. Although its sexual effects may not be well quantified, its medical consequences are requiring more attention, particularly from urologists. The technique of nonsterile placement of a shaved domino fragment used in the United States prison system seems to be spreading. The lack of sterile tools and techniques has led to pain and infection, and we now report erosion as a complication. This likely stems from the irregular shape of the foreign body in our report which differs from the more commonly used sphere. Although prevention of placement of foreign bodies may not be logistically feasible, the lack of reporting on the subject infers that complications are also relatively rare. However, education of at risk individuals such as prisoners regarding complications may be beneficial in helping to prevent them.