Watch out! Know the risks of penile enlargement surgery
Enlarging the size of the penis can be a controversial procedure as a result, as well as carrying risks. There are several types of penile surgeries, and these are becoming increasingly popular. The promise of benefits is unanimous. However, there can also be negative consequences.
Is penis enlargement surgery safe?
From a medical point of view, it is possible to make changes to the length and width of the penis. Doctors can surgically lengthen the penis by cutting the ligaments that attach it to the pelvis. But this only makes the flaccid penis appear longer, not significantly increasing in the erect state.
To make the penis thicker, surgical silicone implants or fat grafts can be inserted into the sides of the penis. These are placed under the skin to increase the diameter.
This can work, but it can make the penis look weird with an "almost smooth" appearance, as well as have complications like skin abrasion or infection, which requires removal. And when that happens, the disfigurement of what was once normal can be permanent.
In fact, any intervention involves risks. This is because penile procedures seek to satisfy personal desires regarding penis enlargement, and do not necessarily address a universally understood problem.
For this reason, there is little published data on individual penis enlargement procedures, let alone comparisons between them.
However, in a recently published article, the results of 17 studies on 21 surgical and non-surgical procedures used to enlarge the penis were examined.
What did the study show?
A total of 1,192 men with healthy penises underwent penis enlargement. The vast majority of them had normal-sized penises before the procedures.
Surgeries included suspensory ligament incision, muscle grafting, fat grafting, and penile displacement. Non-surgical procedures included stents, injections, and vacuum devices.
Among non-surgical procedures, there is an increase in length of less than 2 cm in the use of penile extenders. The injections increased girth, but were associated with a significant complication (nodular penis). The vacuum devices showed no increase in size.
It is worth mentioning that the vacuum device, better known as a penis pump, is capable of increasing the size of the erection only momentarily. However, there are users who claim that it is possible to increase in the long term.
The average satisfaction rate among men treated according to the study was just 20%!
It suggests that when it comes to penis enlargement, one should be careful! Men should have realistic expectations about what to expect.
Incredibly, when patients have been given advice and information about their penis size before any procedure, they will refuse intervention most of the time. This shows that many of the men do not have access to information and education about the penis.
The study concluded that the treatment of small penises in normal men is supported by scant and low-quality evidence. Counseling should always be carried out, and extenders eventually used by those still looking for improvement in size. Injectables and surgery should remain a last resort.
After the study, to confirm the results, researchers at the University of California tracked 11 men who had complications after penis enlargement surgery.
Effects ranged from: gangrene, disfigurement, severe shortening, infection and swelling; all results of risky penile enlargement surgeries. Most patients had received a silicone injection.
The researchers added in the Journal of Sexual Medicine that most patients looking to increase their penis size are of average length but lack confidence in themselves and watch too many sex movies, and we know that pornography often deceives us.
Reference:
- MARRA, Giancarlo et al. Systematic review of surgical and nonsurgical interventions in normal men complaining of small penis size. Sexual medicine reviews, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 158-180, 2020.
