Many men worry about the size of their penises, and popular media such as the Internet and television are flooded with advertisements promising you more sexual confidence and enhancement through special products. Despite millions of dollars in sales from these products, medical facts largely do not support the claims their manufacturers make, and very few of them have been proven to have any significant impact on penis size.
Vacuum Pump
Vacuum pumps operate by creating suction on the penis and thus drawing blood into it. According to the "British Journal of Urology International," these devices are unlikely to increase the size of the penis more than 1 cm in length but can have a "psychological uplifting effect." They are generally used by men who want to counteract the effects of erectile dysfunction. MayoClinic.com questions the safety of vacuum pumps for male enlargement, stating that they can cause permanent damage to the soft tissues in the penis.
Weights
Special weights are sold that can be tied around a flaccid penis and used to stretch it through gravity. The Kinsey Institute, a national leader in human sexuality research, states that the average flaccid penis length is 1 to 4 inches. While stretching with weights may create a temporary illusion of an increase in length, they have not been shown to have a permanent effect and can cause damage to the spongy tissue inside the penis, making achieving an erection difficult.
Dietary Supplements
Herbal and chemical supplements are widely marketed by pharmaceutical companies as having been tested effective at increasing a man's size. They may contain herbs and minerals such as zinc, copper, maca root, ginseng, ginko, horny goat weed and saw palmetto. But none of these supplements has been proven by the Federal Drug Administration to have any impact on penis size. Though the companies making these products occasionally claim to have research backing the efficacy of their product, Dr. W. Steven Pray of Southwestern Oklahoma State University says these studies must be closely scrutinized. Though they might show positive results for the supplement in question, the studies may have been done without a control group or been peer reviewed.
Surgery
Surgery is one of the few methods of penis enlargement that has been proven to have some tangible effect on length and girth. Liposuction of the fat pad covering the pubic bone and severing the penis' "suspensory ligament" are two surgical methods that the "British Journal of Urology International" reports as potentially having psychological or physical results. But research still needs to be done on this type of surgery, and there are some negative side effects, such as scarring and inability to achieve an upright erection.
