Man's Scrotum Swells To Size Of A Watermelon After Surgical Mistake

An Indian man has been left with a scrotum the size of a watermelon after surgeons accidentally cut him during routine surgery.

The man was undergoing a procedure to heal a urinary tract injection at King George's Medical University in Lucknow, India, but when the doctors were attempting to remove scar tissue from his penis, it began to fill with fluid to the point where it was the size of a watermelon.

The swelling eventually subsided, but only after two days. The man did not recover until a full 10 days after the incident, which doctors described as 'misadventure'. Yeah, that's one word for it, I guess.

Doctors decided to operate on the man after a urinary tract infection - which had been troubling him for more than two years - became too painful.

It is thought that his urinary tract problems stemmed from a bout of appendicitis that caused him to have a catheter inserted. Catheters are often linked to later problems with the urinary tract.

Surgeons decided to remove the scar tissue from inside his penis in the hope that it would allow him to pass water more freely.

They attempted to widen tubes within the penis and then remove the scar tissue using a scalpel, but it was 'more than usually traumatic according to medical reports, and resulted in the man's scrotum swelling significantly.

An oedema, a build-up of bodily fluid, began to form in his scrotum, swelling the organ to the size of a watermelon.

When the swelling stopped growing after two days, the doctors sent the man home with instructions to find a way of supporting the weight of his testicles.

After 10 days, the swelling had subsided and the scrotum was returned to normal size, leading doctors to hail the operation as a success, though they did advise surgeons attempting the procedure in the future to make smaller incisions in order to avoid creating more swelling than necessary.

"He was subsequently discharged with an advice to keep a scrotal support and called on the 10th postoperative day," read the surgeon's report into the incident.

"His oedema had completely resolved and his catheter was removed. He voided with a good flow rate of 27 mL/s and had a normal bell-shaped curve on uroflow with no residual urine.

"He was advised to do intermittent self-dilation two times per week. He is doing well 4 months after the procedure."