The doctor advised him to use a device to stretch it out, or simply accept his new size, as this could be a permanent injury.
Covid-19 not only causes acute respiratory symptoms but can also leave many long-term complications after patients have recovered. Scientists refer to this as post-Covid or long Covid.
A symptom is considered post-Covid if it appears more than 4 weeks after the patient has recovered. Common conditions include: shortness of breath, fatigue, difficulty thinking or concentrating, headaches, joint pain, changes in taste, and menstrual cycle irregularities.
However, there are also strange and rarer post-Covid symptoms. For example, a man in his 30s in the United States recently reported that he contracted Covid-19 in July of last year and has since recovered. Everything in his body returned to normal except for one issue:
“My penis has shrunk. Before getting sick, its size was above average. It wasn’t huge, but definitely larger than average. Now, my penis has shrunk by 1.5 inches (equivalent to 3.8 cm), putting it below average,” the man wrote in a letter to “How to do it”, a sexual advice podcast in the U.S.
“My doctors think it could be a permanent injury. It shouldn’t matter, but this greatly affects my confidence in my abilities in the bedroom.”
Why has the penis shrunk?
To advise this confused man, the host of “How to do it” invited urologist Ashley Winter, currently the Head of Men’s Health at Albany Medical College, to the show.
“Shrinking genitalia” could be a permanent injury.
She explained that the phenomenon of penile shrinkage after Covid-19 infection is a domino effect of erectile dysfunction:
“Indeed, erectile dysfunction can lead to a reduction in penis size. During the time when the penis does not stretch, blood is not being directed there, which can lead to penile scarring that causes it to shrink,” Winter said.
A study published in the journal Endocrinological Investigation late last year found that men who contracted Covid-19 were approximately three times more likely to develop erectile dysfunction compared to before they got sick.
Some studies have suggested that this risk could be nearly six times higher, but other estimates indicate that the risk is lower, with post-Covid erectile dysfunction affecting about 20% of men.
Additionally, a large study in the medical journal Lancet surveyed Covid-19 survivors in 56 countries regarding their long-term symptoms. The results showed that 15% of men experienced sexual dysfunction and 5% reported reduced size of the testes or penis.
All of this evidence suggests that “Covid dick” – a slang term used to describe the impact of Covid-19 on the penis – is indeed a reality.
There are several hypotheses explaining why this occurs. Last year, a study from the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami analyzed penile tissue from four men infected with Covid-19 – two had undergone penile prosthesis surgery to treat erectile dysfunction, while two had not.
The results showed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in these penile tissue samples months after the patients had recovered. Published in the World Journal of Men’s Health, the scientists concluded that this virus could limit blood flow to the genital area, making it difficult for patients to achieve an erection.
The risk of vascular damage to the penis is higher in patients who had pre-existing conditions before contracting Covid-19, such as diabetes, which can also restrict blood circulation.
Moreover, some indirect effects from the immune system may also cause inflammation, impacting erectile function and subsequently the size of the penis. Stress, anxiety, and fatigue, common conditions of post-Covid syndrome, further contribute to this problem, exacerbating the issue.
