The boy’s condition, diphallia, is so rare it affects only one in five to six million babies. (PHOTO: Getty Images)
The boy’s condition, diphallia, is so rare it affects only one in five to six million babies. (PHOTO: Getty Images)
A Brazilian boy born who was born with two penises has had the bigger one cut off, doctors have revealed.
The two-year-old boy was born with diphallia, a rare birth defect that affects one in five to six million babies.
It was first recorded back in the 1600s and it’s unclear exactly how diphallia occurs. Only 100 cases have ever been identified. There is no known single risk factor, but it’s thought to happen by chance when genitalia develops in the womb.
In the report published in the Journal of Pediatric Urology, the boy, who was operated on aged two, had two penises that lay next to each other.
His two genitals were connected to one bladder and one prostate gland. The left penis was larger and doctors had originally planned to save the larger one. However, it was later discovered that the boy could only urinate from the smaller penis.
Health, urology, penis, boy, birth defect, diphall
Surgeons successfully removed the extra penis without leaving a stump.
Further examinations revealed the left penis didn’t function correctly because its urethra was too narrow for urine to pass through.
Fortunately the boy, who hasn’t been identified, wasn’t left with an unsightly stump because surgeons were able to completely detach his extra penis.
The Brazilian boy isn’t the only child with diphallia to make headlines recently.
A seven-year-old boy from Uzbekistan was recently revealed to also have two penises.
Doctors at Tashkent Pediatric Medical Institute in Uzbekistan said double penises are a rare anomaly and normally occur in patients born with other genital or urinary problems.
Unlike the Brazilian boy, the Uzbekistan boy’s two penises weren’t his only defect.
He was born without an anus and had surgery done to correct the abnormality at birth.
The unidentified boy, from the country’s capital, Tashkent, lived with the condition for seven years without physical discomfort.
Health, urology, penis, boy, birth defect, diphall
It’s also not clear why it took his parents seven years to get the condition treated, with doctors eventually removing one of the shafts.
During the operation, the left penis and urethra were removed and the child’s urine stream was redirected to his right side only.
Two months later, the boy had recovered and was able to use the toilet as normal.
