CANBERRA, Australia — A 70-year-old man sought out medical attention after he inserted a four-inch steel fork into his penis to achieve sexual gratification.
The Telegraph reported that the fork became stuck and was not visible when the man presented to doctors hours later. Doctors could feel the utensil and observed it on x-rays, and extracted the fork using forceps and “copious lubrication” while the man was under general anesthetic, according to the report.
The unusual case was written up in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports in a paper titled, “An Unusual Urethral Foreign Body .” The doctors said they wrote up the case “given the great management challenge faced by the oddity and infrequency with which a fork is encountered in the penile urethra”.
The Telegraph reported that many patients tend to be embarrassed and try to extract the objects themselves. Some delay seeking medical assistance, but then risk infections that can lead to death.