Health

The Man With Two Penises: Are Two Heads Better Than One?

Two for the money? iStock

By Justin J. Lehmiller

January 12, 2015

2 minutes to read

A new book entitled “Double Header: My Life with Two Penises’’ has become quite the media sensation since its Christmas release. This is not surprising, given that it purports to recount the true story of a man who was born with two fully functional penises.

“Diphallic Dude,’’ as the author, who refuses to reveal his identity, calls himself, describes what it was like to grow up with an extra penis (reactions of his peers in the locker room), details his sexual exploits (a seven-person orgy that required some sexual acrobatics), and discusses his relationship status (single since his three-way relationship with a man and a woman fell apart) among other things.

Everyone seems to have the same question: “Is this guy for real?’’ Because the author has chosen to publish under a pseudonym, I cannot vouch for his existence, let alone the details of his story, but as a scientist, what I can say is that having two penises is not out of the realm of possibility and, in fact, this wouldn’t be the first case the world has seen.

Medically speaking, the technical term for having two penises is diphallus or diphallia (hence the name “Diphallic Dude’’). This is an extraordinarily rare anatomic variation that physicians estimate occurs once in every 5 to 6 million male births. To put that in perspective, there are currently about 151 million males in the United States, which means there might be 25 to 30 guys living with diphallus in this country.

Much like snowflakes, no two cases of diphallus are alike. In the 100 or so reports of diphallus in medical literature to date, cases have involved everything from a penile shaft that has two heads at the end of it to a penile shaft that bifurcates at the midpoint, to a full-size penis accompanied by a tiny, rudimentary penis poking out underneath it. In one case, both penises lacked functionality: one could become erect but could not ejaculate, while the other could ejaculate but could not become erect. Thus, before any of you go wishing you were lucky enough to have a second penis, keep in mind that the extra appendage is usually more trouble than it’s worth.

We cannot say for sure why diphallus happens because no single theory has yet to account for the massive range in variations that have appeared. That said, it is likely that something happens during an early stage of embryological development that prevents some bodily tissues from fusing, which is what ultimately gives rise to the duplicate structures.

And yes, there is a female equivalent of diphallus. The direct equivalent would be a double clitoris, which has indeed been documented. However, there have also been reports of women who have two vaginas as well as women who have two uteri! In fact, it was recently reported that a woman with two uteri gave birth to two children at the same time, each of whom developed from a separate egg in a separate uterus.

Although I cannot vouch for the authenticity of “Diphallic Dude,’’ the notion of a guy having two fully functional penises is at least possible. However, the reality is that most people with diphallus or related anatomic variations would probably have slightly less exciting life stories to tell than what you might read about in “Double Header.’’