What is a Good Looking Penis? How Women Rate the Penile Appearance of Men with Surgically Corrected Hypospadias.

Abstract

Some men with corrected hypospadias perceive their penile appearance to be abnormal, although health professionals consider these results satisfactory. The aim of this study was to investigate how relevant women consider single aspects of penile appearance to be. Moreover, we studied whether women perceive hypospadias-affected surgically repaired genitals (HASRGs) to be as normal-looking as circumcised genitals and identified the most relevant predictors that influence whether a penis is perceived as normal. In this cross-sectional study, 105 women in different age groups (age range: 16-20, 25-30, and 40-45 years) completed a standardized questionnaire. Participants had to rate the importance of eight penile aspects and to indicate how normal they found the appearance of standardized photos of 10 HASRGs and of 10 circumcised genitals. Furthermore, they were asked about demographic characteristics and their sexuality. Results showed that women considered the position and shape of the meatus as the least important penile aspect. Furthermore, results showed that HASRGs with distal hypospadias were perceived to be as normal-looking as circumcised genitals, whereas genitals with more proximal hypospadias were perceived as significantly less normal. However, the difference need not be considered clinically relevant, as the effect size was small. Observer-related predictors of a more positive perception of HASRGs were higher age, higher sexual interest, and perceiving the general cosmetic penile appearance as more important and penile length as less important. Overall, women were found to consider the "position and shape of the meatus" as the least important penile aspect. These findings may stimulate reflections regarding the relevance of surgical correction of the meatus in minor forms of hypospadias. In addition, this study indicates that women perceived genitals of men with distal operated hypospadias (which represents the majority of hypospadias) to be as normal as nonaffected, circumcised genitals.