The surgical management of penile oleogranuloma: case series

Oleogranuloma of the penis is a complex set of pathological processes caused by the injection of a foreign substance (gel, balls, rods, etc.) into the penis with the purpose of penile augmentation. In this case series, we investigated a variety of clinical presentations of oleogranuloma and described our experience in managing the complications. We analyzed data on 18 patients with penile self-injections admitted to the hospitals of Astana City, Kazakhstan, during an 11-year period. The mean age of patients at admittance was 37.4 ± 6.4 years. The most common substance of injection was Vaseline (n = 16, 88.9%). The mean interval between the time of injection and the first presentation to the hospital was 10.8 ± 6.5 years. Complications included necrosis (n = 13, 72.2%), pain or swelling (n = 6, 33.3%) and cosmetic dissatisfaction (n = 5, 27.8%). All patients received surgical treatment (n = 18, 100%): simple excision with primary closure was performed for one-half of the patients (n = 9, 50%), while another half of patients underwent the two-stage scrotum skin flap surgery (n = 9, 50%). The findings of this study should raise the awareness about the diverse clinical presentations of penile self-injections among physicians for early diagnosis and timely management.