In a surprising medical finding, researchers in the UK discover a man with three penises. However, the man was unaware of the fact throughout his entire life that he had more than one genitalia since his external genital looked completely normal.

The extremely rare condition of having three genitals is known as triphallia. The very first case of this rare condition in humans was discovered four years back in a three-month-old boy in Iraq.

A team of student researchers at the University of Birmingham Medical School in the UK made a rare medical discovery. While examining the body of a deceased 78-year-old man who had donated his body for research, they encountered a this condition. Their findings were published in the Journal of Medical Case Reports.

While examining the organs, they found the urethra goes through both the  primary and secondary penis. The latter was smaller though but had all the three main tissues of the penis -, the corpus spongiosum, the corpus cavernosum, and the glans (the head). 

Behind the second penis was the third one but it was not connected to the urethra and had only two tissues-  the corpus cavernosum, and the glans. His primary penis was slightly longer than the other two, measuring three inches, while the remaining two measured 1.5 inches each.

The report states, “This was the second human case of triphallia, which is a rare condition where a person has three penises. This discovery was made accidentally during a dissection of a dead body. The new case looks different from the first one that was reported.”

Triphallia, having three penises, is even rarer than diphallia, having two penises. While only 100 cases of diphallia have been reported worldwide, triphallia occurs in approximately one in five million people.

 

Reason for multiple penises

 

The main reason behind having extra organs is a genetic mutation, however, people with extra organs survive and live life normally.

The extra penis is developed through a tissue known as the genital tubercle and in this particular case the mutations likely lead to triplication of his genital tubercle. 

According to the researchers, the man's urethra originally formed from his secondary penis. However, when the secondary penis failed to fully develop, the urethra moved to its primary penis. Due to local cadaver donation laws, the researchers were unable to identify the man or access his medical history.