whats it made of?

[lady cee]

can anybody tell me what a penis made of? is it made out of muscle or ligament?

[trevHCS]

Ah, something I understandably get asked by an awful lot of women....a bit like us asking "where's that cliterous thing?". ;-)

There are no muscles or ligaments inside there which is why it's fairly unlikely a guy will strain his penis, regardless of what he may claim down the pub. It's more to do with blood pressure than anything.

Inside the penis there are two areas of tissue which are absolutely stacked full of capillaries and these in turn are fed by a substantial number of arteries & veins. The idea is that normally the arteries are relatively contracted thus restricting incoming blood flow, and the veins are relaxed.

When the brain decides it's time to raise a salute, it contracts the veins and expands the arteries. This has the effect similar to filling a balloon with water. The more blood pressure which builds up, the more the capillaries swell and the more errect it becomes.

To be absolutely correct, very roughly 2/3 of the penis is made out of the "corpus cavernosum" (x2) which is the area that does the errection and the rest is the "corpus spongiosum" which contains the urethra (pee tube). And incase you're wondering - as far as I'm aware, unlike in women, the same tube is used for all purposes.


As a sidenote - Viagra helps by relaxing the arteries going into the two corpus spongiosum units thus allowing increased blood flow, by acting on something called "smooth muscle".

I mention this because I said at the beginning there are no muscles involved. What I really should have said is there are no muscles like you'd find in your arm, leg etc. These are muscles, but a special type around the blood vessels and a few other places.

That's why it was being given as a heart drug when they discovered it's slightly unexpected side-effects.

Hope that clears up a bit of a mystery.