Chances are you’ve never found one, but there are men who have more than one penis. Yes, it is an extremely rare condition called polyphalia, but it is not impossible. Scientists have calculated that there must be a single case for five or six million men, although this is an estimate. Some of these multiple penises do not cause health problems and may go unnoticed. This is actually what happened with the last recorded case.
The individual was already dead when the discoverers discovered that he had no fewer than three penises. About him we only know that he was a white man who died at the age of 78 and who had previously decided to donate his body to science. Of course, what he shouldn’t have suspected was how much his anatomy was worth studying: He is the second person recorded in all of history to carry three penises.. The case investigated by University of Birmingham students was published in the magazine Journal of Medical Case Reports.
However, the discoverers of these two additional members maintain that they were quite hidden and that their genitals appeared common. That is to say that It is very likely that this man died without knowing anything about his three virile members.. The study authors point out that this is the first internal description of a triplet penis. Indeed, the only previous case of triple penis on record occurred in a baby and was corrected by surgery.
Two triple penises
As extraordinary as it is to have more than one penis, the most common thing is to have two, which is called diphalia. Since the year 1606, as the authors of the study explain, A total of 112 cases of double penis have been recorded. The only known case of triphalia, or triple penis, occurred only a few years ago. The case was recorded in a 2020 article in the scientific journal Case reports from the International Journal of Surgery and was observed in an Iraqi baby aged just three months.
Although these are the only two recorded cases of tripphalia, they are considered very different. In the case just recorded, the two additional penises were just below the main penis and inside the scrotum. On the contrary, in the case of the Iraqi boy, these two additional penises were visible, one at the root of the penis and the other below the scrotum, only one centimeter away. In the case reported in 2020, both penises were successfully removed and after a year no complications arose.
Although the study authors maintain that the newly discovered case of triphalia was mild, they also suggest that this man may have experienced discomfort. They assume their erections may have been painful and, in addition, they found another peculiarity in its genitourinary system. The urethra, which is the channel that carries urine and semen outward, passed through his secondary penis before heading to the primary penis. It seems that the subject did not cause problems, but it could have been the cause.
An important fact
Concretely, the authors of the work emphasize that if this man had needed a urinary catheter, it would have been quite difficult to place. This patient had a common-looking main penis when viewed from the outside, but just below there was a bump inside which was this smaller secondary penis through which the urethra detoured, and then the third member, even smaller and without a urethra. After this training, there were both testicles which also appeared normal.
“Without having any additional symptoms or medical needs, internal penises confined in the scrotum should not be observed with the naked eye, which makes diagnosis very difficult,” explains John Buchanan, a final year medical student at the University of Birmingham who recorded the case. “For this reason, it is possible that polyphalia is more common than We don’t currently think so.” Come on, other multiple penises also have a common appearance on the outside.
Buchanan and his team say it’s worth tracking down these cases because they could be linked to unexplained symptoms during urination, but also related to erection or male fertility. In the case of this man who donated his body, the authors argue that his secondary penis was quite formed: it had a glans, spongy tissue and, as already explained, a urethra. In fact, the patient might have uncomfortable erections because that other member was swollen with blood.
