Penis Size FAQs

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.

There is a condition which affects about 1 in 1000 male babies called XXY or Klinefelter's syndrome where men have an extra X chromosome which may result in a more 'female' body shape. It may cause a smaller than average penis (more often smaller than average testicles). It can also reduce fertility.