• Question: How does a penis grow

    Asked by BEHZIGA to Amy, Craig, Laura, Partha, Saffron on 22 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Saffron Whitehead

      Saffron Whitehead answered on 22 Jun 2015:

      Your penis grows during puberty under the action of hormones, mainly testosterone. Once that development is complete there will be no further growth although there are lots of spam adverts about penis lengthening treatments. Ignore them!

    • Photo: Laura Wales

      Laura Wales answered on 22 Jun 2015:

      Apart from the initial growth during puberty, there is also growth during an erection. For some guys, the growth is quite significant; for other guys, the growth doesn’t add on much in terms of length – both are normal, everyone is different.

      The penis has erection chambers which have spongy erectile tissue – mostly made of muscle. An erection happens because of blood flow to the area and is regulated by hormones and nerves which allow increased blood flow into these chambers. The blood is stored here which leads to the penis being rigid.

      When stimulated, chemicals are released in the brain that causes signals to pass down the spinal cord, through special nerves and into the penis. These nerves release another chemical called Nitric Oxide and that causes smooth muscle to relax to allow blood to rush to the correct tissues, causing an erection.

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