Doctors operated after discovering he had developed gangrene on his penis (Image: Getty Images/Cultura RF)
Doctors performing surgery on a patient (Image: Independent Newspapers Nigeria)

A man in India had to have his penis partially cut off after he developed decay from an erection that lasted two days.

Concise News reports that the unnamed 52-year-old submitted himself to doctors because he could not get rid of the ‘painful and sustained’ erection.

Amateurish medical practitioners swiftly drained the blood from his penis, but left a catheter in and tightly dressed his penis, causing the patient to develop black rot.

They were left with no option but to cut off the man’s penis head after he reported back to them showing signs of severe tissue damage caused by an acute loss of blood circulation.

Details of the unusual case, which occurred at King George’s Medical University in Lucknow, northern India, were published last month in a British Medical Journal.

The man had been suffering from priapism, a medical term for a persistent and painful erection.

It is unclear what caused the patient’s condition but experts consider an erection lasting more than 48 hours a medical emergency.

Priapism can be caused by sickle cell disease or by the use of illegal or legal prescription drugs for erectile dysfunction, including Viagra.

“We removed his urethral catheter,” Dr Saqib Mehdi writes in the case report.

“But still the black colour of glans penis deepened over the next day and a clear line of demarcation became visible between it and the penile shaft.”

Three weeks after the life-changing operation the man was able to urinate as usual and now has a ‘healthy wound.’

Dr Mehdi suggests the catheter and tight dressing put on after the procedure could have triggered the rot in the patient.