According to The Independent, a 20-year-old man in Switzerland was hospitalised for a week after suffering a rare lung injury while masturbating.
The man went to the emergency room after experiencing “sudden onset of sharp chest pain followed by shortness of breath while lying in bed masturbating,” according to the report published in the May issue of Radiology Case Reports.
Doctors discovered that the patient’s face had swollen and that distinct cracking noises could be heard when he breathed in and out. His medical history revealed that he had mild asthma.
An X-ray of the patient’s chest revealed that he had pneumomediastinum, a rare condition in which air circulating through the respiratory system escapes into the space in the chest between the two lungs. The man’s air sacs were also damaged, necessitating the use of large amounts of oxygen.
Physical trauma to the lungs or oesophagus can result in pneumomediastinum. It can also occur spontaneously when a sudden increase in chest cavity pressure causes a tear in certain lung membranes, allowing air to leak out.
Young men are more likely to sustain this type of injury, and known triggers include an acute asthma attack, strenuous exercise, or violent vomiting.
