What Is Diphallia?
It is not surprising to the wild animals to have another organ but in human it is more likely enigmatic and dumbfounding. The Diphallia is the term used to call the duplication of the penis, or having an extra penis instead of one.
It is being estimated that approximately of 100 cases have been reported since the first case arose from the reported case of Wecker a Swiss Philosopher, alchemist and Physician in 1609. Wecker has discovered that the corpse man in Bologna, Italy has a double penis. Since, then the abnormality occurs to an incidence rate of 1 in 5,500,000.
Generally, Diphallia is being classified into three distinct forms in terms of Penile Duplication;
Patient with bifid penis is associated with bladder exstrophy complex and its variant as superior vesical fissure. It consists of two separated corpora cavernosa that are associated with two independent hemiglands.
According to UF Health the condition of bladder exstrophy is common in males having the ratio of 3:1 (male to female ratio), such the case it is being associated with epispadias, a condition where the penis is short and broad with upward curvature. While, in females, the clitoris is separated into 2 segments associated with divergent labia and anteriorly displaced vagina.
The condition where patient have two independent penises. The organ has the whole exact copy of the penis, urethra, scrotum and bladder. The urethral opening can be in normal posture in hypospadiac (Urethra opens on the underside of the penis) or epispadiac (Urethra opens on the upper surface of the penis).
Complete Pseudodiphallus happens when the patient develops a rudimentary phallus in addition to the normal penis. Both organs are functional; it can release urine at the same time or sometimes pass only one through some aperture perineum. Furthermore, in terms of its erectile functionality, the diphallia patient varies significantly.
Commonly, one or both penises are capable of erection, but some of the cases the patient is sterile due to congenital defects and by their latter stage it can result to a condition of developing spina bifida, a condition that results to malformation of the vertebrae.
Scientist and Health experts are uncertain about the cause of this rare disorder but some hypothesis the anomalies occur after the 23rd day of gestation following an injury, chemical stress or gene malfunction. The following are some pinpoint mechanism causes why such abnormalities occur;
- Radiation exposure to the embryo during mesodermal fusion process
- Malformations of the fetus in utero
- Smoking or Alcohol abuse of the mother
- Exposure to heavy chemicals
- Too much stress
The abnormalities happen when the embryo mesodermal bands failed to fuse properly. These mesodermal bands are one of the primary layers of the embryo from which prerequisite to form several body parts.
As the fetus is undergoing to its development, the pubic tubercle separates, resulting in each phallus having only one body and urethra, or the pubic tubercle cleaves, resulting in each phallus having two bodies and urethras, explains PubMed Central.
Unfortunately, males who born to have this kind of disorder tend to exercise their diet at their early age due to the possibility of high risk organ infections and occurrence of renal failure.
Additionally, when diphalia is present, it is typically accompanied by anomalies; some of them are common such as,
- Renal failure
- Vertebral malformation
- Congenital anomalies
- High risk of Spina bifida
- Gastrointestinal anomalies
Some health experts also say that infants born with diphallia and some of its related conditions have higher death rate from various infections that is associated with their renal or colorectal systems.
Medical practitioners suggest that Diphallia may occur when some sort of external factor such as stress may hamper the developmental stage where the fetal tissue separates. Therefore, the cases of Diphallia vary from one another and the treatment must bespeak and should be tailored accordingly to the condition.
The usual procedure done by the doctors is surgical removal, whereby, the supernumerary penis is removed or the extra penis has to be surgically detached and retaining one functional penis alone.
There are some cases that the sooner the patient identifies to be daphallia victim, the sooner the elimination of extra penis, the better. Thus, early treatment on this kind of anomalies will prevent some possible few problems in terms of sexual behavior in the near future.
- IMAGE SOURCE:
- Fig.1 https://overthecounterpenispills.wordpress.com/corpora-cavernosa/
- Fig. 2 http://urology.ufl.edu/patient-care/pediatric-urology/conditions-treated/bladder-exstrophy-and-epispadias/
- Fig. 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bladder_exstrophy
- Fig.4 http://diseaseszoom.com/hypospadias-repair-pictures-surgery-treatment-definition/