Men's health (8)
- Health issues for gay men: Tips to stay healthy
- Male menopause: Myth or reality?
- Belly fat in men: Why weight loss matters
- see all in Men's health
Men's sexual health (12)
- Penis-enlargement scams: You're more normal than you think
- Condoms: How to use them effectively
- Vasectomy reversal
- see all in Men's sexual health
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Penis-enlargement scams: You're more normal than you think
Thinking about penis enlargement? Male-enhancement pills, pumps, exercises and surgeries can be expensive and dangerous. Consider some better options.
By Mayo Clinic staffPenis-enlargement products and procedures aren't difficult to find. Men's magazines, radio shows and Internet sites are filled with ads for pumps, pills, weights, exercises and even surgeries that claim to increase the length and width of your penis. But be cautious.
No scientific research supports the use of any nonsurgical method to enlarge the penis — and no reputable medical society endorses penis surgery for purely cosmetic reasons. The techniques you see advertised can damage your penis, and some may even cause erectile dysfunction (impotence), so think twice before trying any of them.
Penis size: What's normal, what's not?
The fear that your penis looks too small or is too small to satisfy your partner during sex is a common fear. But a number of studies have shown that most men who think their penis is too small actually have normal-sized penises.
It's highly unlikely your penis is outside of the normal range — and even if it is, it's still possible to have a satisfying sex life and father children.
- The average penis measures between 3 and 4 inches (7.6 to 10.2 centimeters) when it's not erect (flaccid) and between 5 and 7 (12.7 to 17.8) centimeters inches when erect.
- A penis is considered abnormally small only if it measures less than 3 inches (7.6cm) when erect, a condition called micropenis.
How partners view penis size
Advertisers would have you believe that your partner cares deeply about penis size.
- Many women say size is unimportant. In fact, having a penis that's too large can be a disadvantage. During intercourse, the tip of a long penis can strike a woman's cervix, causing her pain or discomfort.
- Advertisements would also have you believe that gay men are obsessed with penis size. But in most cases, penis size is a matter of personal preference for both you and your partner.
Unless your partner tells you otherwise, assume that you're fine just the way you are. Understanding your partner's physical and emotional needs and desires is more likely to improve your sexual relationship than trying to change the size of your penis.
Don't believe the hype
Marketers offer many different types of nonsurgical penis-enlargement treatments, 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 aren't proven. No reputable scientific research endorses or supports any type of nonsurgical penis enlargement. So, marketers rely on testimonials, skewed data and before-and-after photos that often aren't 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 (FDA)." Indeed, the FDA — the government agency that regulates medications and medical devices — has never approved any medications or devices for enlarging a penis.
Penis-enlargement gimmicks can be dangerous
Some advertised penis-enlargement methods are ineffective and can cause permanent damage to your penis. These include:
- Manual squeezing exercises (jelqing). These exercises use a hand-over-hand motion to push blood from the base to the head of your penis. Although this technique may be safer than other methods, it can lead to scar formation, pain and disfigurement. There are no scientific studies that indicate this technique is effective at increasing penis size.
- Stretching with weights. This technique, which involves wearing weights on the flaccid penis, may cause permanent damage to the penis. There's no scientific evidence that this technique increases penis size.
- Vacuum pumps. Because pumps draw blood into the penis and make it swell, they're sometimes used in the treatment of impotence (erectile dysfunction). Using a penis pump more often and for a longer time than it's typically used for treatment of erectile dysfunction can damage elastic tissue in the penis, leading to less-firm erections. Using a vacuum pump may create an illusion of a larger penis, but results are seldom permanent.
- Pills and lotions. These usually contain vitamins, minerals, herbs or hormones that claim to enlarge the penis. None of these products has been proven to work, and some may be harmful.
(1 of 2)
- Colombo F. Penile enlargement. Current Opinion in Urology. 2008;18:58.
- Mondaini N, et al. Penile length is normal in most men seeking penile lengthening procedures. International Journal of Impotence Research. 2002;14:283.
- Shamloul R. Treatment of men complaining of short penis. Urology. 2005;65:1183.
- Francken AB, et al. What importance do women attribute to the size of the penis? Journal of European Eurology. 2002;42:426.
- Aghamir MK, et al. A vacuum device for penile elongation: Fact or fiction? BJU International. 2004;97:777.
- Vardi Y, et al. Is penile enlargement an ethical procedure for patients with a normal-sized penis? European Urology. 2006;49:609.
- Li C, et al. Penile suspensory ligament division for penile augmentation: Indications and results. European Urology. 2006;49:729.
- Vardi Y, et al. A critical analysis of penile enhancement procedures for patients with normal penile size: Surgical techniques. 2008;54:1042.
- Cosmetic surgery price list. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery International. http://www.drgiunta.com/costs_finance.html#pricelist. Accessed April 12, 2009.
- Costs. Penis surgery clinic. www.penis-surgery-clinic.com. Accessed April 17, 2009.
