According to Spanish scientists, penises can be classified into two categories, according to their growth during erection.
- Spanish researchers have analyzed the size of the penises, at rest and in erection, of more than 200 men.
- They have developed two size categories: “showers” and “growers”.
- This could make it possible to better adapt the surgical operations.
Penis size matters to science. Research, conducted by a team of Spanish scientists, is dedicated to penis growth during erection. The results were presented at the last Congress of the European Association of Urology. These specialists from the Puerta del Sur University Hospital in Madrid have developed size categories, based on the growth of the penis during erection.
Two categories of penis established by scientists
Their study is based on the analysis of 225 penis ultrasounds, performed before and during an erection. When the researchers looked at the data, they found that the men’s penis growth followed a curve that allowed them to define precise parameters to develop categories. Thus, they estimate that men whose penis size increases by more than 56% when erect compared to a flaccid state can be considered “growers”. Those for whom this size increase is less than 31% are “showers”. Most of the men in the study, however, fell into a gray area between the two categories. In total, 24% of men were growers while 25% were classified as showers.
Erection: how to explain these differences?
The researchers found no correlation between age, weight, smoking or other factors and penis growth. On the other hand, they observe that men in the category “shower” tended to have longer penises when flaccid compared to the other men in the study. On average, their penis measured 11.3 cm at rest compared to 8.8 cm.
Also, Spanish scientists found that the size of the fibrous tissue known as the tunica albuginea, which surrounds the spongy erectile tissue inside the penis, did not predict a man’s penis growth.
“In men who were ‘growers’, the tunic albuginea became thinner than in men who were ‘showers’“, they note.”It makes sense because the fabric is stretched moreadds Dr. Alonso-Isa, one of the authors of the study. It could therefore be that this tissue has more elastic fibers in male growers than in those who are showers.” But he points out that further research will be needed to prove it.
Penis size: for operations, it matters!
“It is important to be able to predict if a patient is a grower or a shower because when we see them they are usually in a resting state“, says Dr. Alonso-Isa.”If their penis grows a lot when they have an erection, it could mean they need a different surgical approach than someone who doesn’t have a lot of penis growth..” Maarten Albersen, urologist at the University of Leuven in Belgium and member of the European Association of Urology, however, recalls that these differences have no consequences for men’s health.
