I'm writing some stories and I want to make sure I get this right. (And any information we share could also be useful, right?)

My character is cutting off a penis at the base without banding it first in any way. Realistically, could she cauterize and/or sew any cut blood vessels shut, without the guy bleeding to death?

How risky is cuttiing this way, anyway? Bobbitt was cut this way, and the details released by the media seemed to indicate that he was at no time at risk of bleeding to death. Yet, that really doesn't make sense to me.

Any information - or even speculation - anyone can provide would be very much appreciated.

I have wondered about this myself.

One theory posted on the board is that in some injuries the "cut" is really more of a tear and that tearing stretches the arteries in a way that that can seal off easier. This is apparently the case when people have an arm blown off or something.

I personally think that in cases like Bobbitt, the key factor was whether the person has an erection or not. When flacid, the penis has minimal blood flow -- in fact it is so low that the body needs to have nighttime erections just to ensure the tissues are sufficiently oxagenated. In contrast, as you know an erection can build immense vascular pressure (hard as a rock).

So I think a guy that is highly turned on would bleed a life-threatening amount. A guy that is sleeping might be okay.

I guess that's another advantage of being an eunuch (chemically or otherwise): You're less likely to be at risk of having an erection when your penis is cut off.

Generally the more ragged the stump the less it will bleed.

There are more reasons for this than meets the eye, some of them having to do with the mechanisms of volumetric shock.

In other words, people who lose appendages do not usually bleed to death because of two reasons.

The first is that the body in a trauma situation has a response that tends to shunt more of the total blood volume of the body to the internal organs, liver, intestines, brain and so forth leaving less blood volume to flow to the extremities.

The second reason is that if the amputation is traumatic, the raggedness of the ends of the severed vessels lends to enhancing the clotting mechanism. In addition, arterial spasm will shut down the flow of blood out of the stump.

Arterial spasm is the reason why people who sustain severe compound fractures sometimes lose their limbs. It is good in that it prevents blood loss, but it is bad in that it prevents blood flow beyond the area of the injury to the sometimes unaffected tissues beyond the area of the injury. If blood flow cannot be established beyond the area of the injury to the end of the appendage, it will die and have to be removed.

In severe cases veins must be grafted and used to re-establish arterial blood flow before the bones are set into position and before tissues can be re-connected.

Re: your story? Well, look on the bright side, "boners" do not contain bones.

I hope this helps.

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