UK man with 3 penises: Read about a medical mystery

Medical illustration of the male reproductive system.

A British man who died at 78 and donated his body to the University of Birmingham Medical School for research surprised doctors who believe he was unaware he had three penises. The unusual condition came to light when researchers dissected his body in the lab while teaching junior doctors, uncovering a "remarkable anatomical variation." The six-foot-tall man's genitals appeared normal externally, but the dissection revealed two additional penises inside his legs and body joints.

"Two smaller accessory penises lay dormant in a sagittal orientation behind the primary penis. Each penile shaft had its own corpora cavernosa and glans penis. The primary penis and the largest and most superior accessory penis shared the same urethra, which passed through the secondary penis. The urethral-like structure was absent in the smallest accessory penis before passing through the primary penis," researchers said in a study submitted to the journal Medical Case Reports.

According to experts, the urethra initially developed in the secondary penis, but when the latter did not mature, it shifted to the main penis. The urethra first formed in the secondary penis, but when the secondary penis failed to develop, it changed its course and began to develop in the primary penis. The third penis is a remnant of the triple genital tubercle.

An extremely rare disorder called polyphallia, which affects one in 5 to 6 million people, involves being born with multiple penises. Although the study recorded cases of polyphallia from 1606 to 2023, triphallia, literally meaning "triple penis," has only been observed once.