Male genital ornaments: penis pearls.

In this article, five cases with pearls in penile skin are discussed. These cases were viewed from multiple angles as number, colour, position of pearls, socio-economic status, occupation, sexual behaviour, and the background of the individuals. The number of pearls varied from one to five in these cases. The penile skin examination revealed old healed scar marks indicating that probably some had even more pearls. Three persons were directly or indirectly associated with drugs. One of the victim was HIV positive. Two of the cases were of homicide; one died in police custody; one died due to ischemic heart disease; and one had died in accident. The article also discusses the common beliefs behind this practice with review of the literature.