In a bizarre turn of events in Iran, a 21-year-old man tattooed the initial of his girlfriend's surname on his manhood, which left him writhing in agony as he experienced an erection that lasted for an unusually long time, reports MSNBC.

The tattoo, which read 'good luck on your journeys', was made with handheld needles that are difficult to use, a group of Iranian urologists note, explaining that it is difficult to measure the exact amount of pressure being exerted.

The experts further noted that a probable reason behind the sustained pain caused to the man could be the way tattooing is carried out. Initially the tattooist uses needles to pierce the skin, following which s/he applies herbal pigments for the purpose of adding colour, they said, explaining that the last part of the process caused priapism, a persistent erection, in this case.

According to MSNBC, the lovesick young man continued to face erection problems for more than a week after his tattooing misadventure. He noticed that his night erections were lasting longer than usual and worst still, he had an erection that lasted for a whole day, informs the American cable news channel.

Dr Jeffrey Bassett of the University of California, Los Angeles told MSNBC in an interview that there are two variants of priapism – ischemic and non-ischemic, with the former one likely to cause more pain and embarrassment than the latter.

Priapism is rarely reported in men taking erectile dysfunction pills such as Viagra, Cialis, or Levitra. It is medically defined as an unusually long-lasting erection that has nothing to do with sex, according to the source.