It is not that hard to believe that certain things can lead to penis shrinkage. It can be frustrating and embarrassing for men. Here are five things that will make your penis shrink in size.
- Overweight and Obesity
If you suddenly come to a realization that your penis is looking smaller than it used to, might have something to do with you gaining fat more specifically in your lower abdomen.
Don’t worry, in the majority of the cases, the penis only appears to have gotten smaller rather than actually being small as a result of getting buried by fat.
Hims & Hers Health, Inc. states that being overweight or obese can have an impact on the size of your penis. While having some extra weight around your waist does not physically decrease the size of your penis, it can create the illusion of a shorter penis. This is because excess fat can accumulate around the base of the penis, giving the impression of reduced size.
But if you are overweight or obese for years then that accumulated fat could create a restriction of blood flow by narrowing the arteries which might result in permanent shrinkage of your penis.
In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report revealing that nearly 2 billion people across the whole world are overweight and out of those, 650 million people were found obese.
According to WHO guidelines any individual having a body mass index (BMI) within 25 to 30 is overweight while a BMI greater than 30 is considered to be obese.
So, if you notice your penis getting smaller and your gut getting bigger, then it’s time to hit the gym and keep that body mass in check.
- Aging
One of the most common and natural reasons your penis shrinks is because of age as if it wasn’t already hard enough to deal with.
According to an article on WebMD, a decrease in penis size may be attributed to age-related conditions such as high blood pressure or clogged blood vessels (arteriosclerosis) that impede blood flow to the organ. The reduction in blood flow, coupled with lower testosterone levels, can contribute to a smaller size of the penis.
As you get older, your body tends to get weaker due to decreased blood and testosterone circulation.
In the majority of the case, these problems start to arise after 40.
When blood doesn’t circulate sufficiently throughout the arteries and penile chambers specifically through the ‘corpus cavernosum? could shrink your penis over time.
As these are natural cases, there is no real cure other than living an active and healthy lifestyle so that you can delay or potentially reverse the bad effects that come with age.
Lack of testosterone can have a negative effect on your libido or the desire to have sex which can lead to weaker erections and when it comes to muscles it is literally ‘use or lose it’ so if you don’t use it on a regular basis and get erections it could shrink your penis or you could potentially lose your morning wood and the ability to have erections.
But if you age with numerous diseases like cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, heart problem, obesity, etc could speed up the shrinking process.
- Peyronie’s disease
This disease is a relatively serious condition in comparison to the above two points.
Peyronie’s disease is a condition that causes the penis to bend while erect by forming a scar tissue called plaque inside the penis which makes the tunica albuginea very stiff.
The tunica albuginea is responsible for stretching the penis during an erection but due to the formation of plaque it doesn’t stretch and as a result, the penis becomes disfigured and takes a bend downward or sideways rather than getting shrunk.
Most men suffering from this disease can still engage in sexual intercourse but in some cases, it has lead to erectile dysfunction and painful sex.
The bad news about Peyronie’s disease is that, to date doctors are not fully aware of what really causes this disease.
Mostly it is seen that Peyronie’s disease affects older men but it is not at all related to age.
Similarly, not all penile injuries lead to Peyronie’s.
Though the majority of the Peyronie’s disease cases are detected in middle and older aged men there is a good chance it could affect younger men if they inherit the disease or suffer a penile injury.
- Prostate & Testicular cancer
According to several researches done on prostate cancer shows the majority of the men who got their prostate gland removed suffered some kind of shrinkage in their penis.
It is not cancer that shrinks your penis it is the surgery.
The surgery which is performed to remove the cancerous prostate gland, medically known as radical prostatectomy almost always (71% to be exact according to the International Journal of Impotence Research) results in some form of penis shrinkage, typically by nearly an inch.
But it’s not all bad news, according to a new study conducted by BJU International; it shows that almost all the penises recovered to its original length after a year.
Testicular cancer however shrinks your penis in a different way. It is a rather rare form of cancer that affects your testes.
Testes are responsible for sperm and testosterone production and this cancer interferes with the natural circulation which eventually leads to penile shrinkage and in critical cases testicles may need to be surgically removed.
Mostly young and middle-aged people of around 15-40 years of age are diagnosed with this cancer, but it is very much treatable.
- Smoking
Even a child knows that smoking is injurious to health yet it’s one of the most difficult things to quit.
Smoking on a regular basis for long periods of time can potentially cause cancer, heart problems, tumors, and as if it wasn’t bad enough already, turns out it also increases the chance of erectile dysfunction and of course, cause penile shrinkage.
Smoking creates interference in the blood vessels by restricting it to fill up with sufficient blood, as a result, the penis cannot stretch properly during erection and if this process continues for a long period of time it could shrink your penis over time.
Medical News Today released a research report detailing a study carried out in 1998 by researchers from the Boston University of Medicine. The investigation aimed to delve into the subject of erect penises and involved a thorough examination of 200 men. The study’s findings, as highlighted in the report, revealed a significant observation: individuals who smoked exhibited shorter erect penises when compared to their non-smoking counterparts.
Another 2017 study conducted by BJU International proved that smoking reduces a man’s ability to create and maintain an erection. So no matter how turned on you are you won’t be able to get a hard-on.
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- Medications
Certain medicines affect how your penis size. It needs a constant blood supply and nutrients.
When nutrition is not available, your penis starts to atrophy. Meaning that it starts to wither and waste away.
Unfortunately, some medicines act like adrenaline. They restrict blood flow and narrow the blood vessels.
The tablets’ effect on the blood vessels may be long-term, given that you could be taking them for a long. While other tablets impact the blood’s ability to transport nutrients necessary for the proper functioning of the organs.
Drugs prescribed to treat ADHD hypersensitivity can cause severe vasodilation of the veins heading to the penis. The same effects come from using antidepressants and antihypertensives.
They also restrict the oxygen supply in the blood. This makes it difficult for the penis to engorge, ending up shrank.
Some enlarged prostate treatment pills increase the liver’s ability to retain water. This way, the treatment starves your body of fluid, slowing down blood flow to the genitival.
- Abstinence
Sex is a form of muscle flexing. Thus the long period of celibacy can cause the penis to shrink.
When you have regular sex culminating in ejaculation, your body releases more semen. Your brain, in response, triggers the various organs to replenish the lost sperm.
In the process, you become more fertile, making more testosterone to support this function.
Sex itself is an exercise that flexes your penile muscles making them stronger and more resilient.
The constant flexing, coupled with adequate testosterone supply, results in a more muscular penis. But all these gains are lost when you stop making love.
The body sees no need to make testosterone. And the lethargic penis just relaxes without any manipulation.
Inactive muscles also cause plaque to build up. These block blood flow to the penis, accelerating the shrinkage further.
As you grow older past 30 years, your testosterone production begins to slow. This action reduces your sexual activity, further reducing your penis size.
- Weight gain
The impact of weight gain in men manifests in an increase in waist circumference. This expansion increases the skin load over the pelvis.
This huge burden piles pressure on the pelvis muscles, resulting in more energy being used to support it. The penis is attached to the abdominal wall, and an expanding belly pulls the penis inwards.
Besides, it weakens the penile muscles that hold and strengthens the organ during erection. Again, the fat deposited beneath the skin overshadows the penis size. This results in the shortening of the exposed penis.
These factors cause the penis to appear small. In reality, though, its size is still the same, only that a massive proportion is buried inside.
Losing weight helps. The skin becomes taut and the fat underneath also disappears, exposing more penis.
Still, improved metabolism cause more muscles to grow, including those around the penis. As they bulk, the penis also increases in size.
- Surgeries
Cancer can grow on your prostate and testicles. Surgery offers the most ideal way to remove these cancerous cells and prevent their spread.
The procedure is called radical prostatectomy and is effective in treating this condition. Even though surgical intervention resolves the bigger threat, it also causes other issues.
One of the most common side effects of prostate surgery is penis shrinkage. Men who go under the knife to remove tumors experience penis shrinkage.
The situation has been widely studied and reported. A clinical write-up published in The International Journal of Impotence Research mentions that 71% of men who have undergone prostate incisions to remove tumors experienced penis shrinkage.
Reasons remain unknown for the massive penis shortening. But it’s theorized that the urethral tube is to blame.
This ligament connects to the urinary bladder. During healing, the severed tissues lack adequate nutrition and blood, resulting in it atrophying.
This shrinkage pulls the penis tissues also, causing the penile size reduction.
- Stress Dehydration
Penis shrinkage is a massive reduction in penis size. Erection and penis size is determined in the womb and during puberty.
So genes play a significant role in penis size. Still, poor diets and environmental issues could rob you of the natural endowment.
When you are constantly stressed, your nerves constrict. This muscular reduction is more evident in the smaller capillaries leading to the heart and the penis.
As such, the muscle around it shrinks, causing its size reduction.
In addition, inadequate water supply could also result in penis shrinkage. Water maintains normal blood volume and helps it reach all the body tissues.
But when your blood lacks sufficient water, its volume decrease. The reduced volume drops its pressure, which means that it flows more sluggishly and doesn’t supply all the organs.
This affects penis size in two ways. Blood is unable to supply the testes with nutrients necessary for testosterone production. Fewer T-cells equal a smaller penis. Still, less water causes penis tissue shrinkage as muscular functions falter.
