Christmas is here – and with it an increased risk of a broken penis.
A German study states that the number of penile fractures rises significantly around Christmas.
– Victims’ penises often look like an aubergine, says Doctor Nikolaos Pyrgides.
Penile fractures are described as a medical emergency in which erection-producing areas of the penis break off, often as a result of forceful bending during overenthusiastic intercourse.
– This injury tends to occur during wild sex, especially in positions where you are not in direct eye contact with your partner. Like the reverse cowgirl, says Doctor Nikolaos Pyrgides, a urologist at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich The Guardian.
This is what a penile fracture feels like
If you suffer a penile fracture, it is clear, explains Pyrgides. First you clearly hear something breaking, which is followed by severe pain, rapid loss of erection, severe swelling and bruising.
– When patients visit their doctor, their penis often looks like an aubergine, he tells The Guardian.
Roughly 3,500 affected Germans
Doctors at Ludwig Maximilian University suspected that the increased intimacy and euphoria of Christmas could be a risk factor for this type of injury, and therefore examined hospital data for 3,421 men who suffered penile fractures in Germany, between 2005 and 2021.
It turns out that many Germans have intercourse around Christmas.
In the study, which has been published in the British Journal of Urology International, it was concluded that “if every day was like Christmas, 43 percent more penile fractures would have occurred in Germany from 2005 onwards”.
The risk of penile fractures also increases on weekends and during the summer holidays, the study shows.