Image: Chances are, whatever you see when you look down there is just fine as it is | Shutterstock
Just about every man out there has felt like his penis just isn’t big enough. He’s wondered if it’s possible to enhance what he’s got (or what could happen if he just took out a few ribs, but that’s a blog for another time). It makes sense that men feel genitally inferior: they are constantly bombarded with emails about enlargement, comparing their stuff to the stuff they see in porn or personal ads. But while many men would be interested in making their penises bigger, there’s really no way to achieve permanent penile growth.
Most advertisements for penis enlargement are bogus—I’m sorry, but it’s true. Two urological researchers from the University of Turin in Italy studied outcomes from surgical and nonsurgical procedures for penis enhancement to see if they really had an impact. Marco Ordera and Paolo Gontero, the scientists behind the study, found that surgical treatments were very dangerous to the patients and had an “unacceptably high rate of complications.” These procedures include a lengthening surgery that cuts the ligament that makes the penis stand up. A surgery to add girth to the penis takes fat from your glutes and injects it under the skin of the penis, which sounds kind of cool… but ends up making the penis look lumpy. Yikes!
Enlargement products like pills also don’t do anything—except make you angry that they didn’t work.
However, there are a few things that do enhance penis size—but only temporarily. Cock rings, or penoscrotal rings, which fit around the scrotum and base of the penis, can help a penis get just a little bit bigger and maintain an erection a little bit longer. The effect lasts for a maximum of about thirty minutes. Similarly, penis pumps create a vacuum around the penis to draw blood into it, creating a likewise modest and temporary effect.
Truth be told, the best way to get the most bang for your buck is just to take care of it. Try these tips:
If you smoke, quit!
Smoking narrows the arteries in the penis, limiting blood flow and preventing the penis from reaching optimal size. The majority of penises are between 4.6 and 6 inches long when erect, so don’t feel like you need to achieve porn-star measurements.
Exercise regularly.
Exercise allows more blood to flow into the penis. I don’t mean to exercise the penis itself—which doesn’t really work and is likely to be painful—but to maintain a good level of physical fitness.
Eat a healthy diet.
This tip pairs with exercise. Combined, the two will help you stay fit and burn excess fat. If you begin to lose weight, especially abdominal weight, your penis might start to look bigger.
While some people may still have a preference for porn-star dongs, most would rather be paired with someone who is kind, smart, and fun rather than someone whose best quality is an enormous penis. So don’t risk getting a lumpy wiener—learn to do the best with what you’ve got, because your body—and your penis—is perfectly fine just the way it is.