Doctors from the Department of Andrology and Gender Medicine, Hanoi Medical University Hospital, have just performed emergency surgery on a 20-year-old man who was brought in by his family with penile injuries.
The patient had multiple wounds on his penis, with large areas of skin peeling off and bleeding. Family members said that the patient had previously used scissors to cut his penis.
The patient underwent surgery to treat the wound and preserve the penis. Photo: Provided by the doctor
Doctor Do Ich Dinh, Department of Andrology and Gender Medicine, Hanoi Medical University Hospital, said that the patient had a difficult situation, since childhood his psychomotor development was slower than his age. The patient's father was also a slow person, and the mother was raising a young child.
This young man finished 9th grade and is working as an aluminum and glass worker. 3 years ago, he became irritable, destructive, quarrelsome, and sometimes sullen and quiet. His family took him to a psychiatric hospital for examination and treatment with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
According to the patient's family, despite being treated as an outpatient, this young man often had self-harming behaviors, jumping into water whenever he saw it, regardless of whether it was a pond, a river, or just a puddle left after a rain. There were days when his family had to go and retrieve him from the pond 5-7 times.
However, this is the first time the patient has used a knife to harm himself.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Hoai Bac, Head of the Department of Andrology and Gender Medicine, Hanoi Medical University Hospital, said that after consulting with a psychiatrist, the team performed surgery to treat the wound and preserve the penis.
During post-operative care, the patient is always given special attention and monitored to avoid self-harm. Afterwards, the patient is transferred to a psychiatric hospital for further monitoring and treatment.
According to Associate Professor Bac, schizophrenia is a severe, chronic psychotic disorder, in which the patient eventually becomes detached from real life. The suicidal or self-harming behavior of schizophrenic patients is explained by delusions and hallucinations.
In this patient, through clinical assessment, doctors discovered that the patient's penile amputation behavior was due to auditory hallucinations (hearing one or more voices in the ear). Medical literature in Vietnam and around the world has also recorded many cases of penile amputation behavior similar to the above patient. Although this type of injury is rare, it leaves serious consequences for the patient and greatly affects the quality of life.
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