Penis Enlargement

Penis enlargement, sometimes euphemistically called male enhancement, are techniques alleged to increase the girth, length, or hardness of the human penis. Often, in the advertising of fraudulent products, the distinction between temporary enlargement, i.e. erection, and permanent enlargement, is deliberately muddied.

Procedures range from manual exercises to stretching devices and surgical procedures, with reports of successes and failures around the world. While some of these are known to be outright hoaxes, other techniques can produce some measure of success.

Little legitimate scientific research has been done specifically on penile enlargement, so any claims of significant and permanent enlargement can be biased or anecdotal. General research has been done regarding the efficacy (or lack thereof) of the contents of the pills; otherwise, one assumes, mainstream medicine would have made use of them if they indeed worked in any setting. There are also risks inherent to some of the more invasive procedures, with negative outcomes ranging from the tearing of skin and scarring, to permanent loss of sexual function. Due to the speculative nature of any hope for "improvement" and the many known cases of permanent injury involved in this endeavor, many medical professionals are sceptical of the subject.

At present, there is no proof of any non-surgical technique that permanently increases either the thickness or length of a normal penis.

Much of the marketing of pills and potions appears based on the unproven premise that women require men to have large penises and that the size of one's penis may be (in extreme cases) a psychological/psychiatric condition best dealt with by qualified medical practitioners.

Enlargement of a normal penis is distinguished from seeking relief from the recognized medical condition of micropenis, where surgery to increase the organ's size is sometimes needed for urinary or sexual purposes.