Health & Care Information
In medicine, hematoma refers to the condition of collection of blood outside of the blood vessels. This condition can arise due to the injury of a small capillary, artery, or vein.
There are various types of hematoma. A penile hematoma, as the name indicates, is the collection of blood out of the blood vessels of the penile region. The penis is a part of the body that may experience the condition of trauma or hematoma due to several reasons. Those reasons may include sports, burns, sex, machine or car accidents, or gunshot wounds. Penile hematoma causes pain that usually lasts for a short period or may also continue. As a result of hematoma, the penis becomes swollen and badly bruised.
Penile Hematoma Symptoms
Symptoms of a penile hematoma may include bleeding from the penis and facing difficulty while passing urine. It may also exhibit symptoms like the appearance of dark-colored bruising around the affected region. Though the pain at the beginning of hematoma is minimal; however, it gets intense over time if not looked after. Hearing of popping or cracking sound and loss of a sudden erection is also related to the penile fracture; recent studies show that these symptoms are due to any other kind of injury. When it gets intense, it turns out into a condition, which the doctors refer to as an eggplant deformity. In an eggplant deformity, the affected body part appears swollen and purple.
Penile Hematoma Causes
The causes of this condition may include car or machine accidents, sports, sex, burns, or gunshot wounds already mentioned above. However, what happens inside the affected part that makes hematoma occur as a result?
The main reason behind the occurrence of a penile hematoma is the erection of the penis; this erection results in the snapping of either side of a sponge-like tissue known as the corpus cavernosa resulting in the disability of the penis to function accurately.
Other circumstances may also lead to this condition. For instance, it may involve rolling over the bed with an erect penis or getting it to hit on something like a door frame or furniture.
Penile Hematoma Diagnosis
There are some ways of diagnosis of a penile injury or hematoma. Before getting along with any diagnostic methods, the urologist asks the individual about the medical history. To diagnose the real issue, the urologist may also observe the physical state of the patient. Blood and urine tests are also taken into consideration to aid in the diagnosis.
Other than the abovementioned diagnostic ways, a fiber optic camera is placed; into the urethra of the affected person. The patient may also go through an X-ray study known as retrograde urethrogram. To perform it, the urologist injects a special dye through the urethral region and then takes an X-ray. If the dye leaks outside the urethra, it indicates damage to the urinary tract. The urologist may also check the images obtained after an ultrasound. However, if a person feels pain or blood coming out, he must consult the urologist quickly.
Penile Hematoma Treatment
Several different factors are held accountable for the occurrence of a penile hematoma. Hence the treatment methods also vary for causes related.
For a penile hematoma caused due to sexual intercourse, the treatment is achieved; through surgery. The surgery is performed under the effect of anesthesia with no pain felt. The most frequent way of performing the surgery is by; making a cut around the shaft near the penis head and pulling the skin back to observe the inner surface. If any blood clots are visible, the surgeon removes them to find any tears in the region of tunica albuginea.
On the contrary, a serious hematoma is treated by; wrapping an amputated part in gauze soaked with a sterile solution and placed in a plastic bag. Following that, the plastic bag is placed in a cooler with an ice-water slush. It then may be possible to reattach the damaged part.
