Science Diphallia: Baby is born with two penises but no anus - Guess which country. You have a 50/50 shot.


A baby has been born with two working penises but no anus. It is a rare medical phenomenon known as diphallia.

However, one was 1cm bigger than the other. Only 100 cases of diphallia have even been recorded in medical literature

The Pakistani boy’s penises are ‘normal-shaped’, according to doctors. They published the extraordinarily rare case in a medical journal, MailOnline reported.

The boy was also able to pass urine ‘from both orifices’, the surgeons in Islamabad revealed.

Medics left both members intact, but did not reveal why.

To pass stool…
They did, however, create an opening via a colonoscopy so that he could pass stools.

Writing in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports, the team claimed that the chances of having diphallia is one in six million.

Only 100 cases have even been recorded in medical literature, with the first dating back to 1609.

Doctors who treated the boy said 1 percent of sufferers also have a defect.This affects their anus or rectum.

But they did not state if that meant this child was the world’s first-ever case of this defect, as their numbers would suggest.

The boy, born after 36 weeks, was treated at the Children’s Hospital at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.

His parents took him to the hospital’s emergency department straight after he was born. But they had no family history of any birth defects.

Doctors examining him spotted that he had no anal opening and two ‘well-formed phalluses’, one of which was 1.5cm, while the other was 2.5cm.

One bladder, two urethras
Scans revealed that he had a single bladder attached to two urethras. This means he passed urine from both penises.

Surgeons diverted one end of his colon through an opening in the lower left side of the abdomen. This will allow him to defecate.

The boy was monitored for two days following surgery. He was then discharged and a follow-up appointment arranged.

It is unclear how diphallia occurs, and there is no known single risk factor. But having two penises is thought to happen by chance when genitalia develops in the womb.

Patients can have complete diphallia, which is when both penises are well developed. Or partial diphallia, when one penis is smaller or deformed.
 
why did this headline make me laugh when i saw it?
so do they plan to remove one of the penises or are they going to leave him with them both?

Surgeons diverted one end of his colon through an opening in the lower left side of the abdomen
why open it there? im hoping they plan(if possible) to make an actual anus or a neo-anus rather than have him poop his entire life out of his abdomen.
The Pakistani boy
when i saw the headline i guessed indian. i was close though.
Oy vey! Twice the foreskins!
we need a jewish reaction sticker.
 
why open it there? im hoping they plan(if possible) to make an actual anus or a neo-anus rather than have him poop his entire life out of his abdomen.
It is probably temporary. He's just a newborn, and an invasive procedure such as cutting one of his penises and creating an opening could probably kill him
 
so do they plan to remove one of the penises or are they going to leave him with them both?
Kids with such defects have historically been treated appallingly, mutilated as test subjects but these days the standard is to leave it all alone until post puberty and then reassess. The exception is any plumbing issues that will cause injury or death, such as an imperforate anus or no route out for urine. I guessed India, but the docs have done exactly the right thing here .
 
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I thought of this meme.
 
why open it there? im hoping they plan(if possible) to make an actual anus or a neo-anus rather than have him poop his entire life out of his abdomen.
That's where colostomy bags normally go. Even if they did make an opening where the anus should be, he wouldn't have a sphincter muscle to keep it sealed when not in use so he'd constantly leak everywhere. Having a literal front hole is more convenient in that case.
 
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