KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – It seemed like a good idea at the time. A 44 year-old Malaysian man known only as Ramly decided to boost his sexual stamina by implanting 10 ball bearings in his penis.

To accomplish the feat, Ramly used a knife to peel away part of the skin at the base of his penis and planted the ball bearings himself. He said he got the idea from a friend who had done the same thing and claimed that it boosted his sexual staying power.

“My private part swelled up for three days, but I endured the pain and didn’t see a doctor,” Ramly told Malaysia’s Harian Metro newspaper.

Apparently the implants worked, at least initially. Ramly reported satisfying many women once his penis healed. But after a while he began to feel intense pain in his penis—so much so that he was unable to get an erection for six months.

Admitting defeat, Ramly had the ball bearings removed…and discovered they had rusted.

The Harian Metro did not report whether Ramly’s sexual prowess returned after his extra balls were removed, but apparently he is not the only man to insert foreign objects into his penis. According to one report, 5.8 percent of the 2,018 men in Australian prisons have performed similar implantations.

Using ballpoint pens to make holes in their foreskins, Ozzie prisoners have inserted ball bearings, domino pieces, small bells, buttons, rubber erasers and even dice, despite the risks of infection and erectile dysfunction.

“Probably what it shows more than anything else is how incredibly boring prison is,” said Basil Donovan, head of the Sexual Health Program at the University of New South Wales’ Kirby Institute. “You’ve got to do something that fills in the day.”