Man is second person ever to have three penises - and he never knew

A man who had three penises never knew of his ultra-rare condition which was only discovered after he donated his body to science when he died.

The 78-year-old British man gave his body to the University of Birmingham Medical School where students made the discovery as they dissected him. It is believed the man may have gone his whole life without being aware of his “remarkable anatomical variation”.

The says that Triphallia, a rare congenital anomaly describing the presence of three distinct penile shafts, has only ever been recorded once before. Diphallia - or duplicate penises, is an extremely rare congenital anomaly thought to affect one in every five to six million people, but triphallia is practically unheard of.

The only other documented case was of that of a in 2020. This man was described as a white male around six feet tall, who appeared to have normal genitalia on external examination. When this was dissected, it revealed “two small supernumerary penises … concealed within the scrotal sac”.

In the womb, the early phase of genital development occurs at four to seven weeks gestation. The report states: "The penis develops from the genital tubercule and is controlled by dihydrotestosterone. Genetic abnormalities affecting the expression of androgen receptors may cause morphological genital abnormalities.

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"In this case, there may have been triplication of the genital tubercle. The urethra originally developed in the secondary penis, however, when this penis failed to develop, the urethra diverted its course and developed in the primary penis instead.”

In almost all cases of external penile duplication, which was typically associated with other congenital abnormalities, surgeons decided to remove the additional penis. Internal penile duplication, however, was typically identified later in life with “sexual dysfunction, obstructive urinary symptoms and urinary incontinence in adulthood”.

The report states: "We cannot be certain that in this case the defect remained unnoticed in life." The authors added that iven the accidental nature of the discovery, they suggested internal penile duplication may be more common than previously thought.