Abstract
Penile paraffinoma or sclerosing lipogranuloma is a disease occurring uncommonly in Czechia; a pathologist meets this only rarely. Microscopically, we deal with chronic fibroproductive inflammation localised usually in subcutaneous tissue of the penis.
It is caused by previous voluntary injection of liquid paraffin / mineral oil for the purpose of penis circumference augmentation, usually performed by a non-healthcare person or by the patient himself. Human tissues do not have enzymes that can break down synthetic lipids.
The application leads, with a variable time lag, to a foreign body giant-cell reaction lasting for years, and often to annoying complications frequently associated with a genital mutilation and sexual dysfunction. The lesion often requires surgical treatment to remove the paraffin substance from the subcutaneous tissue.
The surgery does not always lead to satisfying results and the paraffinoma tends to recur. In this article, we describe a case of a man with relapsing paraffinoma, which required excision of subcutis with subsequent plastic surgery with skin graft.
During histological examination, lipid droplets were found in dermis and in subcutis, along with xantogranulomatous inflammation. The lipid nature of the material was proven by oil red and Sudan stain.
The paper includes clinical and histopathological differential diagnostic consideration, summary of treatment options and relevant literature review