Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

A comprehensive, prospective study of penile dimensions in Chinese men of multiple ethnicities

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 26, pages 172–176 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

This study aimed to establish a reference range of penile length and circumference of adult males in China, and to compare the penile dimensions of different ethnical backgrounds. To do this, penile length and circumference measurements were obtained from 5196 healthy males attending the Urology Counseling Clinic. The mean value of penile dimensions was a flaccid length of 6.5±0.7 cm, a stretched length of 12.9±1.2 cm and a flaccid circumference of 8.0 ±0.8 cm. In the subgroup of 311 males, the mean erectile length was 12.9±1.3 cm and the mean erectile circumference was 10.5±0.9 cm, the mean flaccid and erectile glans lengths were 2.7±0.3 and 3.4±0.4 cm, respectively, and the mean flaccid and erectile glans diameters were 2.6±0.2 and 3.4±0.4 cm, respectively. We found that flaccid penile length and circumference varied among different ethnicities. This study established a reference range for penile dimensions, which will help when counseling patients worried about their penile size or seeking penis enlargement surgery. We also found that penile dimensions are different in different ethnicities, but further investigations are needed to validate this.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wessells H, Lue TF, McAninch JW . Penile length in the flaccid and erect states: guidelines for penile augmentation. J Urol 1996; 156: 995–997.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Chen J, Gefen A, Greenstein A, Matzkin H, Elad D . Predicting penile size during erection. Int J Impot Res 2000; 12: 328–333.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Promodu K, Shanmughadas KV, Bhat S, Nair KR . Penile length and circumference: an Indian study. Int J Impot Res 2007; 19: 558–563.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Aaronson IA . Micropenis: medical and surgical implications. J Urol. 1994; 152: 4–14.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Shamloul R . Treatment of men complaining of short penis. Urology 2005; 65: 1183–1185.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Ponchietti R, Mondaini N, Bonafè M, Di Loro F, Biscioni S, Masieri L . Penile length and circumference: a study on 3300 young Italian males. Eur Urol 2001; 39: 183–186.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Mehraban D, Salehi M, Zayeri F . Penile size and somatometric parameters among Iranian normal adult men. Int J Impot Res 2007; 19: 303–309.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Söylemez H, Atar M, Sancaktutar AA, Penbegül N, Bozkurt Y, Onem K . Relationship between penile size and somatometric parameters in 2276 healthy young men. Int J Impot Res 2012; 24: 126–129.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Spyropoulos E, Borousas D, Mavrikos S, Dellis A, Bourounis M, Athanasiadis S . Size of external genital organs and somatometric parameters among physically normal men younger than 40 years old. Urology 2002; 60: 485–489.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Moreira de Goes P, Wespes E, Schulman C . Penile extensibility: to what is it related? J Urol 1992; 148: 1432–1434.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Son H, Lee H, Huh JS, Kim SW, Paick JS . Studies on self-esteem of penile size in young Korean military men. Asian J Androl 2003; 5: 185–189.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Awwad Z, Abu-Hijleh M, Basri S, Shegam N, Murshidi M, Ajlouni K . Penile measurements in normal adult Jordanians and in patients with erectile dysfunction. Int J Impot Res 2005; 17: 191–195.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Khan S, Somani B, Lam W, Donat R . Establishing a reference range for penile length in Caucasian British men: a prospective study of 609 men. BJU Int 2012; 109: 740–744.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mrs Yan Zhang, associate professor, Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research, Shanghai, China, for her valuable review of the statistics of this article before submission.

Author information

Author notes

  1. X B Chen and R X Li: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, RenJi Hospital, School of medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    X B Chen & H N Yang

  2. Department of Urology, Yunnan Jiuzhou hospital, Yunnan, China

    R X Li & J C Dai

Authors
  1. X B Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R X Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. H N Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. J C Dai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J C Dai.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chen, X., Li, R., Yang, H. et al. A comprehensive, prospective study of penile dimensions in Chinese men of multiple ethnicities. Int J Impot Res 26, 172–176 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijir.2014.9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijir.2014.9

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links