It’s not Halloween, but when it comes to unsafe girth enhancement, there’s always a scary story.

UroFill® creator Dr. Paul Perito kicks off a new mini-series called “Cautionary Tales,” where he discusses the unsafe, unethical, and downright dangerous methods used by girth enhancement providers, starting with the risks of “permanent” fillers.

Many people seeking girth enlargement are drawn to solutions offering permanent, e.g. lifelong increases in penile size. What many of them find out is that the filler is permanent even when something goes wrong. And things can go terribly wrong, especially when plastic beads or silicone are injected into the penis; they’re permanent because they’re alien to your anatomy.

Potential complications include, but aren’t limited to, chronic inflammation, hard nodules, granulomas, distortion, recurring infection, and erectile dysfunction. Patients can also start to experience reactions to silicone 1-15 years after placement.

For many patients, once the “permanent” filler is placed, they find that it is indeed permanent in the worst possible way. The three questions anyone considering girth enhancement should ask:

What is being injected?
Is it reversible?
Is there a treatment plan if I develop complications five years later?

Cosmetic procedures should provide options, not eliminate them. Understand what’s being placed in your body, and never confuse permanent with safe.