Michael Phillips from North Carolina has opened up about living with what is believed to be the world’s smallest penis. He has claimed this title for some time and has shared the significant personal challenges it presents.
Phillips first noticed he was ‘smaller than average’ as a child, but it wasn’t until adulthood that he sought medical advice. At 36, he was diagnosed with a micropenis, a condition where the organ measures about an inch in length.
The Cleveland Clinic explains that a micropenis is an ‘atypically small penis that’s discovered in infancy or early childhood.’ Despite having a medical diagnosis, Phillips struggles to come to terms with it and highlights a primary difficulty it poses for him daily.
“The biggest challenges I’ve faced [are] having a sexual relationship and still being a virgin and being able to talk about it openly because of how embarrassing of a topic it is,” Phillips explained, as per IGV.
His experiences as a teenager, such as being ridiculed by a girl who saw him naked, have heavily influenced his reluctance to pursue romantic or sexual relationships.
This rare condition, usually identified in people with a penis measuring under three inches, affects about 1.5 in 100,000 people in the US. However, it constitutes only about 0.6 percent of the global population. Early hormonal intervention can sometimes help stimulate growth toward a more typical length, defined by the Clinic as around 5.25 inches, with a stretched penile length of 3.67 inches or less indicating a micropenis.
Michael remarked on misconceptions surrounding small penis size, stating, “I think the biggest misconception is that if a guy has a small penis, he just has a small penis, and not that there may be a medical thing going on. More people need to be aware that there is a medical condition called micro penis.”
When speaking to The Sun, Michael revealed he was unaware that a medical condition existed for his situation.
“I was always aware it had been small, but wasn’t aware there was a condition for it,” he told the outlet. “The main reason I went to the doctor was because my penis is actually too small to have sex at all.”
Michael admits that he has had a few sexual experiences but has faced difficulties, leading him to stop pursuing dating altogether.
Since his diagnosis, Michael has been working to raise awareness about the condition, despite personally struggling to fully accept it.
“I’m still not sure that I have yet fully come to terms with having a micro penis,” he continued. However, he acknowledges that there might be an upside to his situation.
“It wasn’t until joking about being a Guinness World Record holder that I realised I might actually have the world’s smallest.”
“If I could go for it, I would – I think it could help bring more awareness,” Michael said.
He emphasizes, “There really isn’t very much representation for small sizes in media and almost zero mention of micro penis being portrayed as a real medical condition and not a slang joke term.”