On May 5, information from Can Tho Central General Hospital said that doctors of the Department of Nephrology - Urology of the hospital had just successfully performed surgery, handling a rare case when a patient had a metal foreign object in the form of a snail belt tightening his penis for a long time.
The patient is male L.D. T (38 years old, residing in An Giang province), transferred to the hospital on April 27, 2026 in a state of deformed penis, edema, accompanied by 2 foreign objects of metal in the form of tightened bolts. Notably, this condition lasted for about 1 month before admission, although the patient was still able to urinate.
Immediately after receiving the patient, the doctors conducted an emergency consultation and decided to perform emergency surgery performed by BS.CKII. Truong Cong Thanh, Head of Nephrology - Urology Department of Can Tho Central General Hospital and the team.
Through examination, doctors recorded 2 hexagonal metal bolts, about 3 cm in diameter, 1 cm thick, tightened against the penis body; in which, 1 belt was about 1 cm away from the base of the penis, and the other belt was about 5 cm away.
Due to the large size of the foreign object, hard metal structure and prolonged tightening, conventional removal methods could not be applied. The team was forced to use a handheld emergency cutter to release the buckle.
After removing the foreign object, the skin of the penis body recorded ulcers, bleeding and necrotic tissue appeared, surgery to remove the foreign object was successful after 40 minutes.
Current condition, the patient is awake, in good contact, the surgical wound is dry, expected discharge in the next few days.
According to BS.CKII. Truong Cong Thanh, genital ring condition is a dangerous surgical emergency, wearing ring-shaped foreign objects can quickly cause circulatory obstruction, causing blood to not circulate, leading to swelling, pain, cyanosis, and even tissue necrosis. If not treated promptly, patients are at risk of facing serious complications such as infection, widespread damage, and even life-threatening.
Doctors also emphasized that people should not arbitrarily handle at home with tools such as pliers, saws or sharp objects to remove foreign objects. When encountering a similar situation, patients need to go to a medical facility as soon as possible for intervention.
People should absolutely not use hard metal objects such as belts to wear on the penis for any purpose. This is a behavior that poses many serious risks due to the non-expansive properties of metal, easily leading to suffocation when the penis is erect or has edema.
