PENISES are generally smaller than popularly assumed. By injecting 60 men with a drug that produces erections, and then measuring the size of their organs with a tape measure, Jack McAninch and Hunter Wessells of the University of California, San Francisco, concluded that an average erect penis is 12.8 centimetres long. (That鈥檚 just over 5 inches, for those who can鈥檛 think about their anatomy in metric units.)
Wessells and McAninch conducted their size survey after several unhappy patients came to them with complications resulting from penile augmentation operations. The researchers hope that by revealing the 鈥渘orm鈥� for penis size, they will help doctors to decide if a patient really needs such a procedure. 鈥淲e feel there are very few people who are candidates for penile augmentation,鈥� says Wessells.
Only a few surgeons in the US perform penis-lengthening operations, often advertising aggressively in the sports pages of newspapers and charging up to $6000 for their services. The surgeon cuts a ligament attached to the penis, allowing the organ to expand to greater lengths during erections. If extra girth is desired, fat from the patient鈥檚 thigh or abdomen can be implanted under the skin.
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But the results are less than perfect, says McAninch. The operation can result in uneven swelling, bleeding, loss of sensation and infections leading to skin loss and deformity. These can lead, in turn, to psychological problems, including the inability to achieve any erection at all.
In coming months, Wessells and McAninch plan to firm up their data by measuring more penises. In the meantime, they hope men who feel under-endowed will think very hard before going under the knife. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen ten or so of these middle-aged guys who think they鈥檙e going to function like they did when they were 20,鈥� says McAninch. 鈥淚t just doesn鈥檛 happen.鈥�