Buried penis: Does weight gain reduce the size of the penis?

Recently, a survey from The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience found that the average size of a penis is 3.6 inches when flaccid and 5.16 inches when erect.

For many overweight and obese men though, the challenge isn’t in determining how they compare, it’s in establishing if anything is there. 1 in 3 men is too fat to see their own penis and in fact, this one simple question has been proposed as a quick and easy diagnostic check to see how likely you are to contract a range of weight-related conditions. So, first things first – can you see your penis?

How Do You Measure Up?

Let’s get biological. The base of the penis actually starts well inside the body. You can check this out with the aid of a ruler pressed firmly against your pubic bone

That’s actually the official way of measuring and involves acronyms such as BPEL (bone pressed erect length) and NBP (Non-Bone-Pressed). And the difference between BPEL and NBP is the fat pad at the base of the penis, and the more fat at the base of the penis, the less of the said penis becomes visible to the naked eye.

What happens to the penis when you are obese?

A buried penis is just the start of the medical complications that your penis can experience when you gain weight. These conditions are often reported alongside weight gain:

Low self-esteem

If you are suffering from a buried penis, or simply the extra weight you’re carrying isn’t showing you at your best, then it can affect your self-confidence. When your confidence is knocked it can impact on your entire life, not just your sex life and lead to stress, anxiety and depression.

Reduced stamina

Let's be clear – just because you’re overweight, doesn’t mean that you’re not fit, but many overweight and obese men report that their overall health declines when they get fat. Thus, if your cardio-vascular output decreases then this can impact your sexual performance.

Skin problems

When your penis is stuck among hot and sweaty folds of flesh it is a breeding ground for bacteria and this can lead to conditions such as thrush (courtesy of Candida albicans) and tinea cruris, or crotch rot. Please, for the love of all that is holy, never Google Image Search that phrase. Just. Don’t.

Loss of sensation

This can be a problem when the extra flesh from your gut starts squashing the nerve endings in your penis. FYI there are 4,000 sensory nerve endings at the end of the penis and around 9,000 in the clitoris #justsaying.

Circulation problems

And it’s not just nerve tissue affected by surplus weight: excess weight increases the chance of circulation problems, so the amount of blood that is delivered to the penis drops and you are more likely to suffer from some form of erectile dysfunction. Joy.