Evidence-based ways to increase penile length

Are you looking for ways to increase the length of your penis? If so, you are not alone. According to a survey of 50,000 heterosexual men, 55% of them were unhappy with the way their penis looked. But before you start searching for ways to increase your penis size, it is important to understand what is considered normal and what is not.

Average Penile Length

The average penile length is 5.2 inches or 13.2 centimeters. Anything less than 2.9 inches or 7.5 centimeters is considered abnormal and is referred to as micro penis. Micro penis is rare, occurring in less than 0.14% of the population.

However, even if you have a normal penile length, you may still feel distressed if you believe that your penis is not as long as you desire. This is a form of body dysmorphic disorder known as small penis anxiety. It is important to note that this does not mean that you have a small penis, but rather that you have anxiety related to the belief that your penis is not long enough.

In this article, we will discuss the evidence behind penile lengthening treatments. We will also discuss the non-surgical and surgical options available to people who suffer from small penis anxiety.

Non-Surgical Treatments

The first and most important non-surgical treatment for small penis anxiety is psychological counseling. There are validated measures and questionnaires that can help you understand what normal penile size is and also help you deal with some of these anxious feelings. Interestingly, after undergoing psychological counseling, most men no longer want to look for any other treatment.

The other non-surgical options include penile extenders, vacuum erection devices, and penile injectable treatments. The only one of these three that has any data to suggest it results in penile enhancement is penile extenders. Penile extenders are a device that has a hole in which you put the penis as well as two metal rods on either side and then a silicone circle at the end to hold the glands in place. It slowly and mechanically applies traction to the penis to provide length and it does this over a course of many months and with a lot of time dedicated to it in each day.

The data suggests that people who religiously used these penile traction devices did gain some length on their penis. The end gain after months and months of daily use was about two centimeters. However, it is important to note that there are some complications associated with penile extenders, including numbness, bruising, and overall lack of efficacy.

Vacuum erection devices have not been shown to increase penile length at all. Penile injections have also been tried, but they have had devastating complications and are not recommended.

Surgical Treatments

Several different surgical options have been discussed and written out in the literature for penile lengthening. The most common one is a suspensory ligament incision. This involves releasing the ligament that holds the penis to the pubic bone, which can give a little bit more length to the penis. However, this is not without complications.

There are also several other techniques using different flaps, graphs, and even using rib cartilage to help increase the length of your penis. However, these have poor outcomes with poor satisfaction. The studies that have been able to give results on these surgeries have not been rigorously reported, so at this time they cannot be recommended.

The only time that you should proceed with any surgery for penile lengthening would be in the context of a clinical trial. A clinical trial is one that is done at an institution where there is an institutional review board (IRB). The IRB makes sure that any study that is done in that institution is safe and ethical to be done on human patients.

Bottom Line

There is not a lot you can do to change the length that you are given. You can gain a small amount of length with penile traction therapy, but there are many other things that are currently under investigation and are not recommended for routine care.

If you are suffering from small penis anxiety, the first and most crucial step is to seek out psychological care to help you with this anxiety. Before doing anything that may be irreversible, it is important to establish care with a urologist who is familiar with these things.