The Penis FAQs

What is the penis made of?
The penis is basically three cylinders of spongy erectile tissue full of blood vessels. The urethra, the body’s outlet tube for both sperm and urine (although only one at a time), passes through the middle of the smallest of these - the corpus spongiosum - which is found on the underside of the penis. The corpus spongiosum expands at the tip to form the head of the penis called the glans. The glans is protected by the foreskin.

My penis is too small/too big/the wrong shape.
Penises come in all shapes and sizes with bumps and bends and visible veins, the lot. Genuine problems that might actually stop you peeing or enjoying sex are rare and usually picked up when you're very young - so, if you got through the nappy stage you're probably good to go.

Whatever their size to begin with, all penises, when they're erect, are about the same length (between about five and a half and six and a quarter inches long). But it's no big deal. As the vagina can be big enough to let a baby out or small enough to hold a tampon, it can cope with any willy size without loss of performance.

The size of the penis also varies a lot depending who measures it. In surveys when a doctor measures, the size drops by up to 50% compared to surveys where the owners of the penis measure them!

If you’re worried about your penis size, have a proper look at it. When you look at your penis normally you’re looking down on it. Think about it. It’s like looking down on someone from the top of a building. Even basketball players look small when you look down on them from above. Hold a mirror at the side and have a proper look. That’s more the sort of the view you get of another bloke’s willy in the public lavatory. Honestly, very, very few men have willies that are too small or too big to have great sex with.

Penile enlargement operations are, like any other surgery, potentially dangerous and you only have one penis. Liver transplants, kidney transplants and heart transplants are all possible. Penis transplants are not. Don’t risk it.

Anyway, many enlargement operations tend only to make your penis look bigger when limp not when erect. Dr Ian Banks, the Men’s Health Forum’s president says of penis enlargement: ‘Most claims from commercial organisations are either overblown or inaccurate.’ Words like butchers and comboys come to mind.


Why is my erect penis bent?
Every penis is bit bent and a slight bend upwards is not just normal but desirable.
You may have a problem if your penis is bent to the left or right so much as to make it difficult or even painful to enter your partner during sex. It could be condition called Peyronie’s. This is not an Italian beer. Bent willies are very common and generally do not cause any problem with intercourse. It’s a matter of finding what fits, so to speak. If the ‘bend’ is particularly bad, surgery can improve matters.


Why is my penis itchy?
Depending on where exactly it itches, there are a couple of possibilities
If it itches on the glans and this is red and sore, it may be balanitis. (Greek for inflammation of the acorn!) Possible causes include poor hygiene, sensitivity to a new soap or shower gel or having sex with a woman with thrush. Try washing your penis carefully in warm, salty water.
It could also be caused by a skin disease like psoriasis. If you think you may have this, see your doctor.

If it’s elsewhere in the groin area, it could be jock itch which is caused by the same fungus as athlete’s foot - the tinea fungus. It thrives in warm, moist conditions which is a good description of the average bloke’s pants. Wash with unperfumed soaps, dry thoroughly and avoid tight nylon underpants. (Sorry, Superman.) See your GP if the problem persists.

Why is my penis smelly/covered in white bits?
Wash it. The foreskin has a natural lubricant underneath it called smegma. This helps you and your partner during sex. But if you don’t wash regularly – once a day, no more - it can become unpleasant and smelly appearing as blotchy white bits. If left, this can become infected and cause irritation and balanitis.


Why is my penis dribbling a discharge?
If your penis produces something other than urine or semen. it could well be a sign of a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Other signs of an STD include itching or lumps and pain when peeing.

Can the penis break?
It can fracture if it bashes into an immovable object when erect. The most common cause is probably the woman’s pubic bone. It can be healed through surgery and splints.
Apparently I had hypospadias when I was a baby. What is that?
In hypospadias, the opening of the urethra - from which the male urinates and ejaculates - appears in the wrong place, either on the head, shaft or underside of the penis. The usual estimate is that hypospadias affects one in 300 male babies but the evidence is that it is becoming more common. It can usually be corrected by surgery before the age of two.