MALE GENITAL HEALTH
Male Genital Anatomy
Retracted Foreskin
Glans Problems
White Spots (Little White Spots on Shaft of Penis)
Frenulum
Erection
Lax Scrotum
Tight Scrotum
Pre-Ejaculate
Ejaculate
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Male Genital Anatomy
Generally, there are two testicles or testes. One testicle or testis is slightly bigger than the other and each hangs at a slightly different level. Usually, each testicle is about 20-25ml in volume. The size can be checked against an Orchidometer.
Sometimes one testicle may not develop fully and will appear to be much smaller than the other. This is known as an atrophic testicle. An atrophic testicle may be more likely to develop abnormalities. Therefore, it is doubly important to check them yourself every month and to let a registered medical practitioner or other qualified health provider check them as and when recommended.
Sometimes, one testicle may not come down properly, so it looks as if there is only one. If you only have one, it’s worth seeing a registered medical practitioner or another qualified health provider to find out if the other may be hiding up there somewhere. This can be important because what is known as an ectopic testicle has a higher chance of developing abnormalities and, of course, you cannot check it just by feeling in the usual way.
An ectopic testicle is also likely to be an atrophic testicle. Sometimes an operation called orchidopexy is carried out in childhood where a testicle is fixed in the scrotum with a stitch to prevent this problem.
Retracted Foreskin
See Anatomy Gallery: Male Anatomy, Labelled Photographs
Glans Problems
Glans problems include dry skin, irritation, thrush, eczema, psoriasis, balanitis, circumcision, foreskin retractile/non-retractile, and it becomes much more loose with puberty
White Spots
These are normal; they arise from the oil-secreting glands of the skin.
Usually, they are small and insignificant.
Sometimes they appear to be filled with a yellowish cheesy substance called keratin.
They are most commonly found in the scalp, scrotum and vulva but also the shaft of the penis.
They are NORMAL and do not require treatment.
Trying to wash them away or ‘pop’ them could be damaging and introduce infection.
They are common in young men and many worry about explaining them to a sexual partner. They are not infectious.
See Picture Gallery: Normal Variants
Frenulum
The frenulum is the tether of skin between the glans penis and the foreskin.
It can sometimes split or tear during more vigorous sexual activity – but usually, heals itself.
It contains blood vessels, which means there can more blood than you would think possible from only a small tear.
See Anatomy Gallery: Male Anatomy, Labelled Photographs
Erection
All penises are different sizes and shapes.
Even the smallest soft, flaccid penis can be quite a size when erect.
Most bend a bit to one side.
When erect, they often have quite a bend forwards or backwards – and the angle can vary from the horizontal to the vertical.
This is quite normal and usually doesn’t interfere with sex.
Lax Scrotum
The testicles hang outside the body in the scrotum to maintain their temperature – lower than the rest of the body.
Fertility can be reduced if the testicles are always too warm, for example with underpants too tight.
The scrotum can change a great deal at different times of the day – or at different temperatures.
Usually, after a warm bath, the scrotum is quite loose and thin.
See Anatomy Gallery: Male Anatomy, Labelled Photographs
Tight Scrotum
When cold, the muscle in the wall of the scrotum tightens up and the scrotum becomes smaller and thicker.
The testicles rise up against the body to warm up.
Sometimes, they can pop back up inside.
This is normal as long as they are down in the scrotum.
See Anatomy Gallery: Male Anatomy, Labelled Photographs
Pre-Ejaculate
Image of Pre-Ejaculate / Cowper’s Fluid
1,000 sperm are generated per second, from each testicle.
With erection, some 3 million sperm lie in wait in the clear pre-ejaculate near the tip of the glans penis, which are sufficient to impregnate a woman or pass infection (if present). Therefore, a condom should be worn before any genital contact is made if trying to avoid pregnancy/infection.
Between 150 million to 600 million sperm are ejaculated each time.
Ejaculation shoots out at about 28 mph.
Sperm swim at about 1/10th (2.5mm) of an inch a minute or 6 inches (150mm) an hour!
Ejaculate
Semen can vary in volume enormously. Some men produce more, others less. The official figure is more than 2ml – but can easily be twice or three times as much. There tends to be less if you ejaculate more often. Generally speaking, sperm donors are asked to avoid ejaculation for a couple of days beforehand.
Semen is made up of secretions from several glands – the epididymis, the seminal vesicles, the prostate and the bulbourethral (Cowper’s) glands, so it may have a variable consistency and colour. This is quite normal.
The only way to find out if yours is normal is to have it analysed by a semen-analysis lab, which you would only normally consider if you were having problems with fertility. The results are often difficult to interpret and a registered medical practitioner or another qualified health provider will probably want more than one sample analysed. They measure many things – not just sperm count. The list includes volume, acidity (ph), thickness (viscosity), agglutination, the concentration of sperm, how fast they swim, how many move fast, how many sperm are alive, how many sperm are a normal shape, and whether there are any antibodies which may attack the sperm.
After a vasectomy, you will still produce semen and sperm are still present in it for several months. You will have to have samples analysed to show that your semen does not contain any sperm before you can rely on vasectomy as a form of contraception.
During a vasectomy, which is an expensive, difficult and often unsuccessful operation, a small cut is made on each side of the scrotum. The vas deferens, which carries sperm from the testicles, is cut and each end is tied back on itself. There is no increased risk of developing cancer after vasectomy. You must consider vasectomy irreversible.
Link to Semen Analysis
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