Original Article:Penis-enlargement products: Do they work? - Mayo Clinic
Beware of penis-enlargement scams
If you’ve seen the "Austin Powers" movies, you may have laughed at Austin for owning a penis-enlargement pump. But you also may have been thinking, "Hmm. I wonder if something like that could give me an extra inch or two."
Penis-enlargement products aren’t difficult to find. Men’s magazines, sports radio shows and Internet sites are filled with advertisements for pumps, pills, weights, exercises and surgeries — all of which supposedly can increase the length and width (girth) of your penis. Even if you’ve never visited an Internet porn site, you’ve likely received many unsolicited e-mails for products and services that promise to make you more of a man.
These come-ons are based on several stereotypes about men’s insecurities. The "male enhancement" industry assumes that every man:
* Is afraid he has a small penis
* Believes he’d be a better lover if he had a bigger penis
* Is looking for a way to safely and effectively increase his penis size
Don’t fall for it. No scientific research supports the use of any nonsurgical method to enlarge the penis, and no reputable medical society endorses penis-enlargement surgery performed for purely cosmetic reasons. Because many of these techniques can damage your penis and even cause impotence, think twice before trying any of them.
Penis size: What’s normal, what’s not?
When you were a boy, a locker room bully may have taunted you about the size of your penis. As you compared yourself with other boys in the shower, you may have concluded that he was right. A cylinder-shaped object such as a penis always looks smaller when viewed from above than it does when viewed from the side.
As you grew older, you may have seen super-sized penises in X-rated movies and magazines. Such experiences may have left you with a distorted image of what’s normal and what’s not.
Most likely, your size is perfectly normal. Research shows that more than 70 percent of men have penises that measure between 5 and 7 inches when erect. A penis is considered abnormally small only if it measures less than 3 inches when erect, and even then it might not matter. Researchers have documented many cases in which men with so-called micropenises have been fully capable of having sex and fathering children.
The partner perspective: How they view penis size
E-mail advertisements would have you believe that women care deeply about penis size. But women responding to magazine surveys say they don’t care about size at all.
What’s the truth? A Dutch study of 375 sexually active women who had recently given birth suggests that the surveys are accurate — to a point. Seventy-nine percent of the women said that penis length is unimportant, and 69 percent of them said the same about penis girth.
E-mail advertisements would also have you believe that gay men are obsessed with penis size. But individual preferences vary. Average penis size is the same in both gay and straight men.
So, unless your partner tells you otherwise, it’s probably safe to assume that you’re fine just the way you are. Understanding your partner’s physical and emotional needs and desires may do far more to improve your sexual relationship than would changing the size of your penis.
Nonsurgical methods of penis enlargement
Marketers offer many different types of nonsurgical penis enlargement, and often promote them with serious-looking advertisements that include endorsements from "scientific" researchers.
But if you look and read closely, you’ll see that claims of safety and effectiveness are completely groundless. Because no reputable scientific research validates any type of nonsurgical penis enlargement, marketers rely on testimonials and before-and-after photos that may not be authentic.
At the bottom of such advertisements, you’ll usually find a sentence such as "These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration." Well, of course they haven’t been. The Food and Drug Administration, the government agency that regulates medications and medical devices, has never approved any medications or devices for enlarging a penis.
There are four basic types of nonsurgical penis enlargement:
* Manual stretching or squeezing (jelquing). These exercises are supposed to be performed 30 minutes a day for an indefinite period of time. Although they may be safer than other methods, they can lead to scar formation, pain and disfigurement.
* Stretching with penile weights. This technique is very likely to cause permanent penile damage.
* Vacuum pumps. Because pumps draw blood into the penis and make it swell, they’re useful in the treatment of impotence (erectile dysfunction). This may create an illusion of a larger penis, but results are seldom permanent. Repeated use can damage elastic tissue in the penis, leading to less-firm erections.
* Pills and lotions. These usually contain vitamins, minerals, herbs or hormones such as testosterone. Although topical testosterone is sometimes used on adolescent boys to accelerate puberty, there’s no evidence that it or any other substance can increase penis size in adult men. In 2002, authorities in the state of Arizona seized the assets of a penis-pill company, in part because the owners fraudulently claimed their product would deliver a permanent gain of 1 to 3 inches. The company owners also refused to honor their money-back guarantee, committing yet another fraud.
Surgical methods of penis enlargement
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Illustration of suspensory ligament Suspensory ligament
Cosmetic surgeons have developed several different enlargement techniques, none of them endorsed by medical organizations. The American Urological Association, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons have all issued policy statements against cosmetic surgical procedures to enhance the penis.
To lengthen a penis, surgery typically involves snipping the suspensory ligament that attaches the penis to the pubic bone and moving skin from the abdomen to the penile shaft. The suspensory ligament stabilizes and gives an upward tilt to an erect penis.
When this ligament is cut, the penis may look longer because more of it hangs outside the body. But cutting the suspensory ligament can cause an erect penis to wobble and position itself at odd angles, particularly when erect.
Surgery to make the penis thicker involves suctioning fat from a fleshy part of the body and injecting the fat into the penis. Another technique is simply to graft fat cut away from the buttocks or abdomen onto the penile shaft. Some practitioners use tissue from cadavers.
None of these techniques have been shown to be safe or effective. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons describes injecting fat into the penis as "a new and unproven cosmetic procedure of unknown safety" with potential risks that include infection, skin or sensory loss, excessive bleeding and loss of function.
Surgeons have developed another technique — albugineal surgery with bilateral saphenous grafts — that involves grafting blood vessels from elsewhere in the body to the penis in order to increase blood flow and penis width during erection. An Italian study of 39 men who underwent the surgery for cosmetic reasons found that it increased width by an average of one-half inch without complications. These men may have been lucky.
Following various types of cosmetic penile enhancement surgery, some men have had to undergo additional operations to correct deformities caused by the original procedure. The ill effects include scarring, shorter penises, hair on the base of the penis, low-hanging penis, loss of sensitivity, and bumps, lumps, and clumps of fat. Other complaints include impotence, urinary incontinence and persistent pain.
Then there’s the cost: about $10,000 for a typical penis-enlargement surgery that doesn’t require additional corrective surgery. Because cosmetic surgery is seldom covered by insurance, you’ll likely have to bear the entire expense.
When surgery may be an option
Surgeons have devised reconstructive procedures for penises that have been amputated or damaged by circumcisions, animal bites, motor vehicle accidents and physical assaults, among other causes. A penis can be constructed in sex-change operations and to correct birth defects.
And this might work: Achieve a healthy body weight
One place that size might count is your abdomen — not your penis. If your lower abdomen hangs over your genitalia, you might look as if you have a shorter, smaller penis than you actually do. Fat can obscure some or much of the upper part of the penis. For this, the best treatment is to achieve a healthy weight.
By Mayo Clinic Staff
May 24, 2005
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