A boy born with three penises is the first case of human trifallia, a condition in which three phalluses develop during embryonic development.
The child, first seen by doctors as a three-month-old, was from Duhok, Iraq. He underwent surgery to remove two of the phalluses, which were small projections at the base of the penis and scrotum. The third phallus was in the usual place. According to a case study published in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports in November, the boy did well during a follow-up visit a year after surgery.
Extra, or ‘supernatural’ penises are a rare congenital condition that, according to the researchers, occurs only once every 5 to 6 million live births. The level of development of these extra phalluses differs in different individuals. In the case of a child in Iraq, the two additional penises contain the erectile tissue, called the corpus cavernosum, which becomes saturated with blood during arousal, as well as a tissue called the corpus spongiosum, which supports the urethra, the tube. urine pass. But the extra penises did not have urethra. This made surgical removal of the extra organs simple.
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Not much is known about why supernatural penises occur, said John Martin, an anatomy professor at St. Louis University. Louis University School of Medicine, said who was not involved in the case study. Martin and his colleagues teach anatomy using a body donation program and once discovered that one of their body donors had diphallia, or two penises. The man, who died at the age of 84, had two voluptuous phalluses, with a urethral opening between them. The donor did not mention the condition on his body donation forms. He had two children, Martin said, but the researchers do not know if they were biological children and if any reproductive technology was needed for the man to have children.
“He died in the early 2000s, and surgery may not have been an option,” Martin told WordsSideKick. “It’s just a lot different than today where something like that would be detected early and probably an operation would be done.”
Martin and his colleagues performed genetic tests on the donor to see if they could determine the reason for the unusual development. They found several mutations in gene which are known to be involved in sex drive, including some that contribute to the formation of hair-like structures called cilia on embryonic cells. These cilia are very important in development, Martin told WordsSideKick, because they flutter in specific directions and wave proteins to one side of the developing embryo. Disorders in the cilia genes have also been seen in other cases of congenital disorders, he said, such as situs inversus, in which the organs in the upper body are inverted so that they are on either side of their normal positions.
The researchers also found mutations in genes that help regulate the activity of other genes in development and in genes involved in receptors for androgenic, hormones that have a male influence and that are involved in gender development.
Another gene commonly associated with sex development is the peculiar sonic heron, Martin said, which is important throughout the body to promote growth during embryonic development.
It is not clear how similar the genetics are between different cases of diphallia and whether these findings apply to the unique case of triphallia. The doctors who treated the Iraqi baby found nothing in the family’s family history or medical history, such as exposure to medication or chemicals during pregnancy, which would explain the congenital abnormality. The child was otherwise healthy except for some fluid buildup in the scrotum, which is a common and easily treatable condition in baby shoes.
Originally published on Live Science.