Comments on: How’re they hangin’, guys?

By: Bill from Dover

Bill from Dover — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:39:22 +0000

Somehow, I always knew that there was more to disco than dancing.

By: hopper3011

hopper3011 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:58:57 +0000

Doc:
Enjoy,
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/459206
http://www.chaseunion.com/cat2/inflate.htm
Just don’t ask me how I know!

By: Jim Fiore

Jim Fiore — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:24:50 +0000

Right across the hall from our electrical labs are a bunch of bio labs. A few years ago when they put in a new cadaver lab, I took a tour with some of the other staff. One of the cadavers had seen some major work including having his penis cut though 90% about halfway down. It just sort of hanging tenuously. It didn’t bother me a bit. No, what bothered me, as a runner no doubt, was seeing a lower leg that had been stripped of all skin with the Achilles tendon completely severed. A completely severed Achilles! I could almost feel that. The penis slicing, eh, not so much.

By: kemibe

kemibe — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:50:29 +0000

Then there’s the whole issue of traditional (penile) shrinkage operating independently of scrotal shrinkage. The whole cold-water thing doesn’t get anywhere close to the heart of the matter. These poor women researchers (even skilled surgeons!) will never elucidate the details, try as they might.

By: Warren

Warren — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:53:38 +0000

Weather.com could design a whole new set of icons to illustrate what the temperature translated into in terms of shrinkage. Temps in the 80s and above wold be “ballmy”, whereas anything below 30 could be something like “nuts to you”.

By: Warren

Warren — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:51:13 +0000

Ah. A whoopee scrotum. Nice.

By: Il Fuoco

Il Fuoco — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:58:44 +0000

“That way I wouldn’t have to load up weather.com to find out what it’s like outside, I could just assess my crotch. ”

Yeah, but like those home weather systems, it would only work if you have a “remote crotch” to supplement the standard base station crotch.

By: kemibe

kemibe — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:29:21 +0000

“None of the guys would touch that particular dissection”

I do recall from my gross anatomy days that I had no problem being the one in my foursome to make the first chest incision but discovering that when it came time to saw apart the guy’s bits, I wasn’t into it at all.

It would be nice if there were a reliable linear relationship between scrotal laxity and temperature, as with the crickets-chirping thing. That way I wouldn’t have to load up weather.com to find out what it’s like outside, I could just assess my crotch. Unfortunately there are far too many confounding factors at work to make this practice at all feasible.

By: SurgicalSteel

SurgicalSteel — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:41:18 +0000

It doesn’t flap, but it does deflate rather quickly. Heee, it’d be more fun if it flapped. :D

By: docbushwell

docbushwell — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:22:44 +0000

“and then came the day to dissect his Clyde’s genitals. None of the guys would touch that particular dissection – it was all mine.”

:^D That’s great!

“So when I do a laparoscopic hernia repair, the scrotum ends up being inflated with carbon dioxide. ”

Now that’s something I’d like to see! I have a wicked (and wholly inaccurate, I know) image of a puffed up scrotum flapping like a punctured balloon when pierced with a needle.

By: docbushwell

docbushwell — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:17:07 +0000

Thanks, Kev. I like Bering’s column and this one in particular tickled my fancy. Male plumbing is a fascinating thing.

By: SurgicalSteel

SurgicalSteel — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:56:00 +0000

Your colleagues’ reaction to your research reminds me of anatomy lab. I was the only woman in a group of five students assigned to dissect a male cadaver. We called him ‘Clyde.’ We did all sorts of things to Clyde in the interests of pursuing anatomic knowledge – skinned various parts, de-fatted the axilla to look at the brachial plexus and the axillary artery and vein, took off the top of his skull and took out his brain, sawed his head in half so we could look at the sinuses – and then came the day to dissect his Clyde’s genitals. None of the guys would touch that particular dissection – it was all mine. One was brave enough to hold the legs apart for me and hand me instruments. The others stood at the opposite end of our tank, paging through the anatomy atlas, and occasionally wincing and asking ‘How could you?!’

Oh, and another oddity of scrotal anatomy – scrotal contents connect through an opening called the processus vaginalis and through the inguinal canal with the preperitoneal space. So when I do a laparoscopic hernia repair, the scrotum ends up being inflated with carbon dioxide. It’ll go down on its own with time, but I had one attending in my fellowship who made me deflate the scrotum with a syringe and a needle prior to leaving the OR. AND the scrotum has an appalling tendency to bruise after hernia repair even if you haven’t touched it.

Anway, this was a fun read this morning!

By: kemibe

kemibe — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:48:07 +0000

I loved this biochemistry and pharmacology review, and it took me back 15 years in addition to teaching me new stuff. But more to the point, I never wear underwear and I hope like crazy that I’m sterile. I hope to make all of these ends meet shortly.