Doctors Issue Urgent Warnings About “Ballmaxxing” As Dangerous Trend Grows Among Young Men

What would make someone willingly inject fluid into one of the most sensitive parts of their body? In 2026, the answer could be vibes, boredom, validation, or the never-ending quest to “maxx” everything these days.

“Maxxing” is the internet’s latest obsession with optimizing and upgrading everything.

From looks to finances, people are looking for the fastest and easiest ways to “maxx” every aspect of life, even one’s manhood.

The internet’s obsession with “maxxing” has officially entered NSFW territory

Image credits: Joey Foley/FilmMagic

After trends like looksmaxxing, sleepmaxxing, and careermaxxing took over online conversations, the obsession has now extended to ballmaxxing.

The wild trend is all about increasing the size of a man’s testicles by injecting fluids until they become the size of grapefruits or cantaloupes.

A 57-year-old man, identified as Marcus, claimed he has balls bigger than an apple or a mango.

He admitted he’s long been obsessed with enlarging his danglers and, as per his own measurements, said his scrotal sac measures up to 14.5 inches.

“I’m astonished at how flexible the testicles are. They just expand,” the man, who injects Surgilube (a surgical lubricant) into the region, told Men’s Health.

Image credits: Connor Scott McManus/pexels (not an actual photo)

Image credits: Timoldland

For the purpose of ballmaxxing, men may inject fluids like saline or Surgilube into their testicles to increase their size.

Saline is a sterile mixture of salt and water, commonly used for medical or health purposes, whereas Surgilube is a water-based surgical lubricant, primarily used by doctors to reduce friction during medical procedures, such as inserting instruments, catheters, or endoscopes into the body.

Both these fluids have their own intended purposes and are not meant for body modification or ballmaxxing. The scrotum is simply not designed for this.

Prof. Dr. Sinan, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Turkey associated with Longevita, said injecting substances such as saline or lubricants into the scrotum is an extremely dangerous practice because these materials were not intended for uncontrolled injection into genital tissue.

Men are injecting fluids to inflate their testicles to fruit-like sizes

Image credits: Cup of Couple/pexels (not an actual photo)

The scrotal skin is naturally elastic, but excessive or repeated inflation does more than simply “stretch” the skin harmlessly. Instead, it can interfere with blood circulation and damage the surrounding tissues, the expert said

“Excessive injections can impair circulation in the area, which may lead to acute wound problems, tissue destruction and, depending on the substance injected, even permanent tissue loss,” Dr. Sinan told Bored Panda.

He added that introducing non-medical or inappropriate substances into the scrotum also increases the risk of severe inflammation, infection, and long-term functional problems. In some cases, the damage may extend to the reproductive organs themselves.

He warned that uncontrolled injections could even contribute to fertility problems. “These kinds of procedures can cause permanent damage, tissue destruction and complications that may affect fertility,” he said.

Image credits: cottonbro studio/pexels (not an actual photo)

People who try ballmaxxing often say they do it out of curiosity or for the shock value.

For some, there’s also the bedroom fetish element. Some may experience a taboo kind of thrill from the visual change, while others may enjoy the physical sensation.

“I know it’s freaky and abnormal looking—that’s exactly what I like about it,” a 29-year-old IT employee told Men’s Health.

Having a bulging scrotum “makes me especially h*rny, when I move around in public, knowing that someone can see that,” said a 35-year-old electrotechnician.

One Reddit user spoke about ballmaxxing, also known as scrotum pumping, on the r/salineinflation subreddit, which has 8,700 followers.

“I felt so manly, manly man,” he said.

“I know it’s freaky and abnormal looking—that’s exactly what I like about it,” a 29-year-old IT employee said

Image credits: MART PRODUCTION/pexels (not an actual photo)

Others may say they do it because women like it.

A Redditor named Jack posted on the r4r subreddit about a woman wanting to watch him make an infusion into his scrotum.

“She would periodically look and feel and ask a few questions,” he wrote. “Her curiosity was absolutely electric… probably because the curiosity was showing a sort of acceptance.”

For 33-year-old tech worker Kevin, who said he struggled with body dysmorphia (feeling dissatisfied with aspects of one’s body), enlarging his scrotum for the first time felt “euphoric.”

“Taking ownership of my own body was a lot of the drive for it,” he told the outlet. “Typically masculine people have a lot of control in their life.”

In the same corner as ballmaxxing, there are also at-home p*nis enlargement (PE) methods that are being touted online.

Clavicular shares the experiments he’s done to increase his penis size

‘If I’m creating volume here another good spot would be on my penis,it was one of the most painful process ever’

‘I do pumping like regular penis enhancement but that was my own unique edge on the PE… pic.twitter.com/OaWWcNInFH

— zaza (@zazaxbt_) April 29, 2026

Image credits: biggins_harry

Braden Eric Peters, better known online as Clavicular, is one of the most recognizable faces promoting the looksmaxxing movement. He recently said he has been trying PE tactics, involving pumping and what he described as the “shopping bag hanging stretching” method.

Clavicular explained that the method involves putting items in a shopping bag until it’s heavy enough and then looping the handles around the wrist so the bag’s weight does the stretching.

“Then you’re basically holding on to your suspensory ligament and stretching,” he said during a recent appearance on Logan Paul and Mike Majlak’s podcast Impaulsive.

He said he does this even while driving and confirmed that the stretching is done when his manhood is flaccid.

Clavicular recently spoke about using shopping bags to enlarge his manhood

Image credits: DramaAlert

One of the biggest risks linked to online body modification trends is the growing normalization of unregulated procedures, shared through social media and internet forums. Netizens often turn to extreme at-home procedures instead of seeking professional opinions, which can be dangerous.

Dr. Sinan noted that people may wrongly assume that substances such as saline are harmless because they are used in healthcare settings. But using any fluid or product outside its approved medical indication can carry significant risks.

“Products or substances that are not approved by health authorities such as the FDA, when used unconsciously or outside the correct indication, can lead to irreversible organ, tissue, and functional loss,” he told Bored Panda.

Some ballmaxxers have shared experiences that show how quickly things can go wrong.

Marcus admitted he once got his scrotum stuck in the toilet after using two liters of saline to inflate it. “It was a bit painful,” he told Men’s Health. “I’m actually still recovering from that.”

Clavicular talks about trying to grow his PP with a shopping bag.pic.twitter.com/K0YZIbUcOv

— DramaAlert (@DramaAlert) May 13, 2026

Another 35-year-old electrotechnician said he once hit a vein while injecting and saw his scrotum turn blue with bruising. Another time, he couldn’t walk from infusing too much of the solution.

“My groin was on fire,” he said of the incident.

Experts asserted that trends like ballmaxxing and PE should not be experimented with at home.

Injecting substances into the body without proper medical training can lead to serious, even life-threatening complications. This makes it crucial to leave any kind of body modification to qualified professionals.

Dr. Sinan said there are medically supervised procedures designed to alter or restore testicular appearance, but these are entirely different from the at-home practices promoted online.

One man said his scrotum got stuck in a toilet after inflating it

Image credits: Timur Weber/pexels (not an actual photo)

In clinical settings, surgeons may use specially designed testicular prostheses or medically approved filler materials under strict sterile conditions and with careful patient assessment.

“Testicular volume can be increased medically using prostheses or injectable materials specifically developed for medical use,” Dr. Sinan told Bored Panda. “However, these are controlled procedures performed under the supervision of a qualified surgeon.”

He stressed that there is no medically acceptable basis for injecting household substances, lubricants, or non-approved products into the scrotum outside a clinical environment.

Image credits: Kampus Production/pexels (not an actual photo)

Robert Bradshaw, Superintendent Pharmacist, Oxford Online Pharmacy, said ballmaxxing or scrotal inflation can also interfere with the natural functioning of one’s testes, which could lead to erectile dysfunction, infertility, and problems with urination.

Unsupervised injection of saline fluid can also come with the severe risk of infection.

“Injecting any substance under the skin can introduce harmful bacteria,” he told LADbible.

“The scrotum is a sensitive part of the body and particularly vulnerable to infections such as cellulitis (a skin infection) or abscess formation (a collection of pus),” he added.

“Inflation fetishes have been around for a long time,” one netizen commented online

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