Penile Girth Enlargement Strategies: What's the Evidence?

Introduction: Most men seeking penile girth augmentation have physiologically normal penises but may suffer from severe preoccupation with penis size known as penile dysmorphophobic disorder.

Aim: To describe the medical, procedural, and reconstructive techniques available for penile girth enhancement and to review the success and complications of each modality.

Methods: A comprehensive review of peer-reviewed publications on the topic was performed through a PubMed search. Key search terms included penis, enhancement, enlargement, phalloplasty, reconstruction, girth, and augmentation.

Main Outcome Measure: We wanted to summarize the motivations behind penile girth enhancement and review the outcomes for girth augmentation treatments.

Results: Various medical, traction, injection, prosthetic, and reconstructive modalities have been studied for penile girth enhancement, with increases in girth ranging from 0-4.9 cm. Complications were reported in a minority of patients, but they may be devastating and include penile fibrosis, sexual dysfunction, device infection, and death.

Conclusion: A variety of penile girth augmentation techniques have been studied. Clinical guidelines are lacking, and complications of penile girth enhancement are likely underreported. Until more rigorous investigation with accurate reporting of complications is achieved, penile girth augmentation procedures should be considered experimental. Hehemann MC, Towe M, Huynh LM, et al. Penile Girth Enlargement Strategies: What's the Evidence? Sex Med 2019;7:535-547.