Is My Penis Too Small? It's a most common question. Most men worried about penis size. "When they come in for something else, they ask, 'Oh, by the way, I am concerned about the length of my penis. Most are men in the 20 to 40 age groups. But some are aged 40 to 50, and some even older men ask." The vast majority of these men worry about small penis size is common.
You might think that as long a man's penis works; he would have no problem with it. You would be wrong. Penis size is a key element of a man's self-image. Yet he is not boasting to other men, the average man significantly underestimates the relative size of penis. Here an example; over a two year period, 350 men asked me for surgical correction of a small penis. All turned out to have normal-size and functional penises. A few days ago, I had a patient who spent one hour talking with me about size of his penis, yet it was normal. That man isn't alone. About 45% of men want a bigger penis. Never mind that 85% of women say they are satisfied with their partner’s penis parameters. Many men worry about the size of their erections. Many more worry about how their penis looks when it's limp, studies find. So how can a man know if he's normal, super-sized, or small? Not by his shoe size, a common and disproved myth about estimating penis length. Like so much in life, direct measurement is the key.
Men may be surprised to learn that penis length isn't measured on the erect penis. Too many variables are involved. Instead, the most reliable penis measurement is called Stretched Penis Length (SPL). The longer a man's SPL, the longer his erect penis length, according to studies done on brave young men who volunteered to have erection-stimulating penis injections. To learn your SPL, measure the penis while it is flaccid. Press the ruler tight against the pubic bone at the base of the penis. Do not just measure from where the penis separates from the scrotum, or you'll lose precious centimeters. Now gently, but very firmly, stretch the penis as far as it will go. Measure from the pubic bone to the tip of the stretched penis. Average size of flaccid penis - 3 to 5 inches. More than 2 inch size can be normal. If you are a little smaller than that, you have got lots of company. Just as many men are below average penis size as above it. How big is big? According to statistics, only 0.6% of men have a SPL of 6.8 inches or more.
There is, off course, such a thing as a very small penis. The medical term "MICROPENIS" applies to the 0.6% of men with the smallest penises. According to statistics, a SPL of 2 inches or less indicates a micropenis. Even then, USA doctors hesitate to recommend surgery, because it's controversial and risky. Micropenis isn't usually something a man discovers when he's an adult. It's usually caused by genetic or hormonal abnormalities that cause other, more serious health problems early in life. That is because the penis starts to develop when a fetus is just 8 weeks old. By week 12, the penis has developed and begins to grow. During the second and third trimesters, male sex hormones cause the penis to grow to normal length. Factors that interfere with hormone production and hormone action stunt penis growth. When discovered in infancy, micropenis can be treated with hormone, which can stimulate penis growth in childhood, even after puberty. While the safety and long-term efficacy of this treatment remains to be proved, available data suggest the treatment does not affect normal development during puberty. For adults with micropenis, the options are few. "For true micropenis, there is not much you can do that is adequate for the adult patient, except for putting in a penile prosthesis". Fortunately, micropenis is a rare condition. Far more common is "the constellations of conditions that make the penis look diminutive and small" inconspicuous penis.
Inconspicuous penis means a penis that is hard to see. Micropenis a truly tiny penile shaft-is the rarest of the conditions under the umbrella term "inconspicuous penis". Other forms of penis that may have remained untreated until adulthood are webbed penis and buried penis. The webbed penis indicates the scrotum has connected to the underside of the penis so it pulls the penis inward", "usually the penis is at right angles to the scrotum. But in webbed penis, the scrotum is high riding and the separation from the penis is not clear." Buried penis occurs when the penis is hidden below the skin. This can happen because of excessive belly fat in the front of the abdominal wall droops down to conceal the penis. It can also happen when connection to the scrotum is absent and the penis withdraws inward toward the pelvis. Another form of buried penis occurs when a too-large foreskin makes the penis look buried. Webbed penis can be treated via surgery. Buried penis may require only weight loss, and perhaps liposuction. There are also surgical procedures that can correct the problem.
The belief that you aren't a real man because you don't have a big penis. Perhaps one reason men often believe this is that most men have no idea what a normal-size penis looks like. When asked to guess, most guess wrong. About 15% of men just throw up their hands and admit they don't know. Another reason is pornography. And because penis size is such a major part of a man's body image, men suffering from body dysmorphic disorder often focus on the size of their penises. Body dysmorphic disorder and other psychiatric issues that may underlie small penis syndrome may require professional help. But most men need only reassurance and sex counseling that they really are normal. I give the patient a physical examination and detailed sexual history and social history, if he has no medical problem, I speak positively. I tell him that he has a normal penis that is no different in function from any other healthy man. I give him confidence and tell him last, size does not matter. "If a man has perfectly normal penis function, he must reconcile with the fact that his penis is what it is". " You cannot make a short person tall. People have to accommodate to their own anatomy".
It's hard for a man to open his email or news paper advertises without encountering an offer of a drug, device, or surgical procedure that will give him a bigger penis. Sure, that stuff is just spam. But are there legitimate ways to lengthen a penis? "There is not much to make the penis larger," surgically, there is not much to significantly increase penis size or girth that is not fraught with significant complications." procedures known as "Augmentative Phalloplasty" promise to make a penis wider in girth and because these procedures add weight to the penis - by grafting fat from another part of the body - they make the penis a half-inch or so longer when flaccid. "Getting a uniformly even expansion of girth is unpredictable and often does not lead to a good outcome", "you have to hope you do not get a lumpy penis. This is not an easy thing to do." Most men do not know that only about two-thirds of their penis protrudes from their bodies, the other third, held in place with ligaments, provides the leverage for sexual function. One surgical technique cuts these tendons and allows the penis to protrude another inch or two. "When surgeons take the inside part of penis and move it out, the most common outcome is their erection no longer goes up but down". If a man is unhappy with his penis length, he is going to be unhappy with a penis he has to pick up and insert. All of these procedures are considered "Experimental Surgery". Severe complications include but are not limited to penis shortening, a lump or uneven appearance, scarring, sexual dysfunction, and curvature of the penis. These complications often cannot be corrected.
Traction devices that stretch the penis may actually add an inch or so to penis length, based on small studies and anecdotal reports. These devices have to be worn for several hours a day, for many months. Most people, even if they are highly motivated, don't have that kind of time. So I’m not sure a lot of patients have the time or energy or perseverance to do that. Vacuum devices may help men with erectile dysfunction achieve an erection-but they do not make the penis larger.
However, there is one area of research with possibilities: regenerative medicine. Scientists have been able to grow animal penises in the laboratory by seeding scaffolds with the animals own cells. These penises then were successfully transplanted. With regenerative medicine, the sky is the limit. We might have this as an option down the line. Regenerative medicine is still not ready for prime time. These things have a lot of potential, but nothing we can offer to parients in the near future. Good Luck!!!!