Rare Medical Oddities Vol.1 - Diphallia (NSFW)

If you follow my posts you might have noticed how I love posting about strange animals and stuff. True, since I was a child I was always amazed by the wonders of mother nature. However, other than strange animals, medical oddities is another thing that always got me fascinated. 

A week ago I tested the waters with my "Man Goes Blind After Having Powerful Orgasm" story and I think the reactions I got were encouraging. But starting from today, things get serious. Get ready for some hardcore stuff!

I have already talked about strange animal penises so introducing you to some strange human penises in this first volume of Rare Medical Oddities seems like the natural thing to do!

Today's medical oddity is Diphallia. The word Diphallia is derived from the greek words "δύο" for "two" and "φάλλος" for "penis" which I think is pretty self-explanatory. If not,  here's a short definition from wikipedia:

Diphallia is a rare developmental abnormality in which a male is born with two penises.

Some alternative names for the condition are Diphallia, penile duplication (PD), diphallic terata, or diphallasparatus. 

Wonder how a double penis looks like? Here are some photos by the DoubleDickDude, as shared in one of the most successful AMAs ever done in Reddit:

As you can see, both his penises are relatively symmetrical, something rare for the condition. He claims that the length difference between them is about 1.5 inches and both are 100 % functional, meaning he can urinate and ejaculate from both of them. 

Ok, enough with the doubledickdude, let's learn more about the condition! Since I am not a doctor I"ll try to keep things short and simple and avoid any details that I really don't understand.  

What is diphallia?

As aforementioned, if you have two dicks you have diphallia. However, if we want to be more scientific we should say that diphallia can be divided into 3 categories: 

1. Glans duplication (two heads)
2. Bifid diphallia (whatever that means!)
3. Complete diphallia (or true diphallus) with each penis having its own corpora cavernosa, corpus spongiosum, urethra etc.

There is also a fourth type of diphallia, pseudodiphallia. This term is used when the second penis is rudimentary and atrophic. [1]

I would like to mention that diphallia usually doesn't look like the pictures I included above. Most diphallia cases present with a wide range of other genital malformations that I have no idea what are, including but not limited to "ectopic scrotum, bifid scrotum, hypospadias, imperforate anus, bladder exstrophy, colon duplication, double bladder, and vertebral deformities". [4]

I am not going to include any pics of diphallia combined with the aforementioned malformations because believe me, you are going to need a really, really strong stomach to view them. If you think you are brave enough just visit the references in the end of this article, especially links no. 3 and no.4 !

Epidemiology

The condition is extremely rare, occurring once in every 5 to 6 million births. [1,2]

Causes

The exact causes behind the condition remain largely unknown but it is hypothesized that its the result of anomalies occurring after "the 23rd day of gestation following an injury, chemical stress or gene malfunction" [3]. Some causes might be:

• Radiation exposure
• Smoking or alcohol abuse by the mother
• Exposure to heavy chemicals
• Too much stress

Treatment

Most diphallia cases are unique in some short of way, so treatment is usually tailored to the needs of the patient. In most cases, it involves the surgical removal of one of the two penis. If both are functional and there are no other genital malformations I guess treatment is optional, judging from the story of the DoubleDickGuy mentioned before. As I said, I am no Doctor, so don't take my word for it! 

Some History

As of today, there have been approximately 100 cases reported in the medical literature. The first one comes  by Johannes Jacob Wecker in 1609, a Swiss physician and philosopher who discovered that the corpse of a man in Bologna, Italy had a double penis.

The End

So enough dick(s) for today. Let me know what you think of this post and if you would enjoy reading about more medical oddities. Actually, never-mind. I will keep posting about them regardless of your opinion. In the meantime, here's another double dick for goodbye, enjoy:

(credit)

References & Further Reading

1. Jpedsurg.org/article/S0022-3468(01)27860-9/pdf
2. Wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphallia
3. Healthsurgical.com/diphallia.html
4. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3446048/