April 21, 2006 | Funny Bits

Into diseased genitals?

When it comes to fetish, anything's possible. Nipples. Foreskin. Feet. If you've got it, someone out there is into it. Still, something occasionally comes along that  surprises even the dirtiest minds. Like dermatology, for instance, which - according to a recent report - is the favorite for a select few porn fanatics.

That's right. An online image library created for doctors to help them make dermatological diagnoses is being used as fuel in not-so-standard stroke sessions, according to a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Reuters reports.

Dr. Christopher Lehmann started the study when he noticed that the number of image searches for shots of the genital area within the library were unusually high. Upon investigation, he found that nine of the 43 websites referring visitors to the image library most often were fetish-themed or pornographic in content; 14 percent of image requests originated with links from those sites, according to vnunet.

"The anonymous misuse of collaborative archives must be anticipated, addressed and prevented to preserve their integrity and the integrity of the learning communities they support," Lehmann said in the April edition of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Pictures of genital warts and herpes blisters? Ok, so they're not exactly the bread and butter of American pornography (or is bread and butter a fetish, too?)

• Dermatology websites are the new porn [vnunet]
• Porn fans flock to clinical site [AVN]