Everything you never needed to know about men who fill their balls with saltwater
Photo by Ronaldo Oliveira on Unsplash
It has recently come to my attention that some men engage in a practice called ?saline balls.? Despite the implications of its name, it involves filling and expanding the scrotum, not the testicles, with saline.
The scrotum is capable of stretching to far greater proportions than the testicles, which may burst if subjected to a saline infusion ? and I?m sure nobody wants that to happen. That makes the colloquial term for ?scrotal inflation? a bit of a misnomer. Participants aren?t actually getting ?saline balls.? What they are getting is a temporarily swollen scrotum filled with a sterile saltwater solution.
What is scrotal inflation?
Sex blogger Dan Savage answered that question online in an article originally posted back in 2012, with the help of Dart, a BDSM educator and ?leatherman?:
?It?s a type of body-modification play where the scrotum is infused with approximately 500 milliliters to one liter of saline solution via an IV/cannula drip, which results in the balls appearing to have enlarged to the size of a pair of grapefruits.?
The process of inflating the scrotum to the desired size may take an hour while the effects are visible much longer. It can take a couple of days for the saline to be absorbed into the body and the scrotal area to deflate back to pre-inflated proportions. ?Saline balls? is a body modification that?s considered temporary. That?s why substances such as silicone are not used.
For what purpose?
Apparently, some men enjoy it as a fetish or kink, and it falls under the broader term ?medical play.?
Although I cannot possibly imagine myself gaining any type of satisfaction ? sexual or otherwise ? from the practice of infusing saline into one?s scrotum, my opinion doesn?t matter because I don?t have a scrotum. I can?t help but see a parallel between a woman such as myself pretending to have decision-making power over a man?s scrotum and a group of men making decisions about a woman?s uterus.
The problem is that the former is hypothetical while the latter is reality ? but I digress.
Are there any risks of saline balls?
As one might imagine when introducing a large needle, or cannula, into the body, the practice is not without risks, once again, according to Dart:
?Some of the risks that can happen include local infection and cellulitis, which can occur from a lack of sterility. There can also be dangerous problems if any air was present in the tubing of the IV during the infusion. But again, if proper precautions are taken, these risks can be avoided.?
After the saline has been absorbed by the body, there may be some residual sagging of the skin where it has been stretched out. So sagging testicles may be something else to consider when delving into this controversial sex practice.
A final word.
I am a firm believer in the rights of consenting adults to do whatever consenting adults do, and it?s not my right or pleasure to judge any man who wishes to expand his testicles to the size of grapefruits using saline. However, I feel the need to state explicitly that I don?t recommend it. Why? Because I don?t want to be responsible for anything that goes wrong.
If you?ve ever participated in scrotal inflation or it?s something that intrigues you, feel free to let me know. I?d love to get an inside perspective on what drives people to participate in and enjoy this practice.
