Man Lived To Old Age Without Knowing He May Have 3 Penises

Do you really know what you look like inside? Most people don’t, and it usually takes surgery or medical imaging to get a look in our lifetime.

A case study in the Journal of Medical Case Reports was published last week in which researchers made the rare discovery of a man with “triphallia.” Most people would say this man had three penises. But anatomists, like me, who teach medical professionals about the structure of the human body, prefer the term penes (plural of penis).

This discovery came from the dissection of the body of a 78-year-old man who had donated his body to science. It’s a case that has left many anatomists scratching their heads and sparked discussions about typical human anatomy and anatomical variations.

I too have an extra organ – an extra spleen – as well as other anatomical variations involving two muscles. It is very likely that you also have anatomical variations, without you necessarily knowing it.

Back to this case

According to the latest study, only one penis was visible from the outside. But when his body was dissected, there were two additional, smaller penises inside the scrotum.

The main penis measured 77mm long and 24mm wide, with the smaller ones measuring about half the size. However, the images provided in the study do not appear to match the written descriptions everywhere. The study therefore needs to be clarified.

Intriguingly, the researchers identified a single urethra, the hollow tube in the bladder that allows urine (and sperm from the testicles) to leave the body. This urethra ran from the bladder and through part of one of the smaller penises and along the main penis, leaving out the third penis entirely.

Was there a misunderstanding in the identification of these anatomical structures? Could the second penis simply be a misidentified part of the main penis? Is this really a case of diphallia – two penises? In both cases, the man’s anatomy was different from what is typically seen in anatomy textbooks.

The study suggests that all three penises contained erectile tissue capable of engorgement. But it remains unclear whether they worked independently or together. Unfortunately, the authors did not confirm the structures by examining them under a microscope, nor did they report tracing nerves or blood vessels to bring in more light.

There has been a previous case in a baby

Another case of a person with three penises, documented in 2020, involved a three-month-old infant.

In this case, the main penis was in its typical position, but the additional penises could be seen on the perineum (between the anus and scrotum in men).

None of the extra penises had a urethra, making them unable to function normally. Eventually, these non-functional penises were safely removed.

Such cases are rare, with only these two examples being reported in medical databases.

So how does this happen? The answer may lie in how embryos develop.

At the start of development

The penis begins to develop early in the first trimester of a 40-week pregnancy, during which time a woman may not know she is pregnant.

During this critical period, the embryo may be exposed to various influences. These include toxins passed into the bloodstream if the mother becomes ill, takes certain medications during pregnancy, or is exposed to certain chemicals. There are also genetic factors that shape organ development.

By the fifth week of pregnancy, the cells migrate to the midline of the embryo, where they help form the precursor of the penis.

Problems in this migratory process, abnormalities in a developmental gene (called “sonic hedgehog”), or fluctuations in testosterone levels or receptors during early fetal development could potentially lead to the formation of additional penises.

Humans are varied

Although the appearance of triphallia can be surprising, these rare cases highlight a broader point: our anatomy can vary greatly. Just as individuals differ in their external appearance, our internal anatomy also differs.

For example, there are anatomical variations in blood vessels, organs, muscles, nerves, and even bones that may not be easily visible.

Indeed, incidental findings during my own medical examinations revealed that I had a supernumerary (or extra) spleen, called a splenunculus, an extra flexor digitorum longus muscle (in my leg), and that I was missing both palmaris longus muscles (in my forearms). ).

Although my anatomical variations are internal, extra nipples are a common example of visible external anatomical variation. These can be confused with moles and can also result from developmental problems during the first few weeks of pregnancy.

Why is this important?

Cases like the three-penis man are important reminders of the complexity of human anatomy and the many factors that can influence our bodies from the very beginning of their development.

The exploration of these rare discoveries highlights the importance of continued research in anatomy and embryology.

These findings also highlight the importance of a healthy lifestyle for people who intend to become pregnant and who already are. This is how growing embryos can have the best chance of developing typical anatomy.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.