A man’s penis can reveal so many things like how well the rest of the body is performing. Frankly speaking, the penis is an important part of a man’s reproductive system – seminal vesicles, the scrotum, vas deferens, prostate, and epididymis make up the rest.
Well, there’s a reason we hear about the penis the most – it’s the climax of pleasure and most noticeable external feature.
As you know what a penis feels like and what it looks like, but how much do you really know about this male organ?
Although most of us (men) are comparatively familiar with our dicks and its antics, there’s more to our addition that meets the eye.
To educate yourself, here I have discussed 10 lesser-known facts that you probably didn’t know about your genitals.
Here are 5 penis facts about the male sex organ….
Top 5 Penis Facts: Everything You Need To Know!
#1: Penile fracture – You can break your penis
Although it might not be done, penises can break – penis facts. According to Faysal Yafi, MD, a urologist at Tulane Medical Center, Penile fracture is rare, but it can happen and it can be dangerous too. A penis can break if it is violently twisted when erect. A penis does not have bones in it, but during an erection, the tubes filled with blood can burst.
Blood pours out of the tubes inside the genital organ and causes very painful swelling.
Although it’s very rare to have a penile fracture and the reported cases are erratic, but it’s believed that some men are too ashamed to report it to their doctor.
Penis break during sex, when a man’s female partner is on top, is actually responsible for about one-third of all cases. The breakage usually occurs when a man’s penis is violently bent and slips out of his partner.
In case you do fracture your penis, immediately rush to your hospital because surgery is needed to repair the damage to the penis.
#2: Smoking Can Cause Erectile Dysfunction
Smoking causes shrinkage – another penis facts. It can decrease your penis size by as much as an entire centimeter. This is all because the blood vessels begin to calcify that significantly reduce erectile circulation. Also, if a guy doesn’t get regular erections, the penile tissue can become less elastic and could shrink by a centimeter or two.
According to a famous urologist, cigarette smoking can cause body stress, consequently causing stress to the penis. The penile tissue starts dying and so it’s very likely the penis shrinks with smoking.
A recent study states, men who smoked for about 10 years or those who smoke about 10 cigarettes a day, can experience shrinkage when erect.
Also, the studies suggest that smoking causes blockage in the small arteries in the penis thereby activates a weaker erection. So you need to quit smoking as your smoking habits are exploring the risk of developing erectile dysfunction.
#3. The shoe size myth – Penis length is not linked to foot size
According to a study published in the journal BJU International, there’s no connection or link between penis girth and shoe size. On the other hand, an older study which was published in the year 1993 – concluded that penile length was related to both foot length and height. Although, it was a weak relationship and therefore the authors concluded,
Height and foot size would not serve as practical estimators of the penis length.
Also, one of the research published in the International Journal of Impotence Research concluded that penile lengths and girths are significantly correlated with index finger length, height, age, but not foot size.
Furthermore, according to a study published in the British Journal of Urology International, the belief that a man’s penis size is in the proportion of their shoe size is a myth. The researchers at University College London measured the penises of approximately 104 men, including pensioners and teenagers.
In the group, the average penis length was 5.1 inches (13cm) when gently stretched and soft, and the average shoe size of British was 9 (43 European size).
But the researchers found no link between penis length and shoe size.
#4. Small penises make big erections
As you know shorter penises increase more in length when they become erect compared to that of longer ones.
One study based on the penis dimensions of a total of 2,770 men discovered that the length of small penises gets increased by 86% when erect.
And you’ll be surprised to know that it’s nearly twice that of longer penises (47%).
In one study published in the Journal of Sex Research in the year 1988, the researchers also discovered an interesting thing that the difference in length between longer and shorter penis was a lot less when erect than when flaccid.
For example, the average erect lengths varied by 1.7cm (0.67 inches) whereas the flaccid penises differed in length by 3.1cm (1.2 inches).
#5. The penis is not a muscle
Contrary to popular belief, the man’s penis isn’t a muscle. This is the reason why you cannot move your dick very much when it’s erect.
But this does not mean a man’s penis doesn’t contain a unique muscular structure.
In fact, when you’re aroused, these muscles actually relax by this means opens up the penis arteries and allow it to fill the blood and a hard erection to happen.
The human penis is made up of special, sponge-like erectile tissue that contains large spaces that fill with blood when a man is sexually excited.
Inside 2 cylinder-shaped chambers, the blood shapes up causing the penis to swell and harden.
The swelling stops the veins that typically take blood away from the penis. As an erection disappears, the blood vessel of the penis (2 cylinder-shaped chambers) again, allowing blood to drain away from the penis.