Man Suffers Excruciating Penis Pain Due To Covid Side Effect
The man was in agonising pain for several days before he went to the hospital
While we all know about some of the more common side effects of Covid, like people losing their sense of taste or smell, one man suffered a much lesser-known symptom.
Doctors in Iran were puzzled when a patient - unnamed for obvious reasons - came to them suffering excruciating pain in his genitals.
According to a study in the Clinical Case Reports journal, the 41-year-old had been experiencing penile pain for three days before he decided to get it looked at.
He told the medical team that he first noticed the ache when he got an erection while having sex.
And though he hadn't felt any pain in the pelvic region that might have explained what was going on, it turned out he had tested positive for Covid around three weeks earlier.
But there was nothing to suggest at the time that his bout of the virus was any worse than usual, with him experiencing a fever and fatigue.
The man then underwent an ultrasound, which showed that his penile vein was dilated and contained 'thrombosis from the middle part of the penis extending to the root of the penis'.
The penile vein makes sure there is a supply of oxygenated blood to the organ, but doctors found that there was 'no flow in the vein'.
Following a diagnosis of deep dorsal penile vein thrombosis, the man was prescribed with 15mg of Rivaroxaban, a blood thinning medication, twice a day.
The study concluded: "Two months after starting the treatment, patient’s symptoms were completely disappeared and he had no penile pain during erection and sexual disturbances anymore.
"Other parts of the vein showed normal velocity with no other partial thrombosis.
"Patient had a little pain with the pressure of ultrasound probe at the site of the partial thrombosis."
While cases such as this are incredibly rare, experts have noticed over the course of the pandemic an increased risk of suffering from blood clots among those who have contracted Covid.
Radiologist Seyed Morteza Bagheri said: "Roughly, 20 to 50 percent of hospitalised patients with Covid-19 infection have abnormal coagulation tests."
He added: "Searching the literature showed no previously published similar case of deep dorsal penile vein thrombosis following Covid-19 infection and our patient is the first reported case."
Earlier this year, a man claimed his penis actually shrunk after he contracted Covid.
The unnamed man explained what happened to him when he rang in to the podcast How to Do It where he said before contracting Covid he had an above average size penis.
But when he recovered from being 'very sick', the man - who is in his 30s - said his member had reduced in size by an inch and a half.
“My penis has shrunk. Before I got sick, I was above average, not huge, but definitely bigger than normal.
"Now I've lost about an inch-and-a-half and become decidedly less than average.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Health, Science, Coronavirus
Dominic Smithers