Another hospitalized from penis augmentation Tuoi Tre This cartoon shows a man suffering damage to his penis after he has liquid silicon injected into it in a hope to enlarge it. Tuoi Tre A 36-year-old man in Kien Giang southern province has suffered complications including necrosis of the penile skin after he himself injected non-medical liquid silicone into his penis to enlarge it. Dr. Truong Hoang Minh at Nhan Dan 115 hospital based in Ho Chi Minh City told Tuoi Tre on Thursday that the patient, only identified as N.V.T., suffered necrosis of penile skin and penile edemas as he was hospitalized on June 7. Minh added doctors at the hospital had to remove his affected penile skin tissues and later performed a surgery to regenerate it. T. told the doctors he decided to inject liquid silicone into his penis when a friend encouraged him to do so at a drinking party three months ago. During first days after the injection, T. saw his penis looking bigger and had normal erectile function but in the past three months, he went through a lot of pain every time he got an erection. Feeling a need to enlarge their penis to improve self-esteem or to satisfy and impress their partners, many VIetnamese men often use liquid silicone to increase their penile sizes but they are not aware of possible serious consequences of their work. Recently, a hospital in HCMC in only one week has received up to five patients who were suffering from complications of penile augmentation by the use of liquid silicone. These patients were suffering from edemas in their penises several months after the injections, leaving them unable to have sex, said Dr. Mai Ba Tien Dung, head of the Men’s Diseases Department at Binh Dan Hospital. “A few of the men even saw their penises become deformed. They used silicone of unknown quality, and complications developed after about six months,” doctor Dung said. The doctor told Tuoi Tre that in previous years the hospital has treated only two-three such patients per year, but within the first half of this year, 10 men have already been hospitalized after injecting silicone into their penis. According to Dr. Dung, to treat these cases, doctors first remove the skin or tissue that is infected, and patients are then required to return three months later for penis regeneration. “But during that period, they will have difficulty urinating and cannot have sex,” he said. Dr. Dung: enlarge penis with liquid silicone is harmful In a desire to enlarge their penis, a number of men have used liquid silicone, even though this substance is banned worldwide, as it has been proven to be unsafe. After being injected into the human body, silicone can cause reactions similar to a transplant rejection. When injected directly into blood vessels, liquid silicone can cause a pulmonary embolism, or even death, if the injection isn’t carried out correctly. With intensive treatment and care, penises with complications caused by silicone are usually recovered at a rate of 80 percent of size and form. Doctors only treat the damaged skin and soft tissues of the penis, and do not interfere with the seminal ducts or the testicles, so the reproductive ability of patients is not affected.