Can I Get 8.5cm Testicle Implants?

Q: Dr. Eppley, Hi! I’m a man interested in “male enhancement”, so to speak. I’m researching testicular implants as a safer alternative to self-administered silicone injection. I’ve been experimenting with saline and dextrose infusions and achieved great temporary results, but what I’m really looking for is a semi-permanent or permanent size increase. I found your implant page through a google search, and was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me. Is 8.5cm the maximum size you would be willing to implant, or is that just the largest you’ve done so far? Are there adjustable implants that could be inflated and deflated as desired? What are the risks and possible complications of implants, particularly when getting into larger sizes? What sort of recovery timeframe should I expect? What kind of costs would we be looking at? Don’t need specific quotes, just a general idea. Thanks for your time!

A:When it comes to the size of an implant in testicular enhancement my only concerns are for the patient’s safety with a low and acceptable risk level of complications. Such complications are primarily infection, chronic seroma or fluid collection and wound dehiscence. There isn’t any question that the size of an implant effects these potential risk levels. There is no absolute size number or scientific method to determine when the size threshold is exceeded. This is a matter of preoperative and intraoperative judgment.

That being said there is a reason the largest size testicle implants that I’ve ever seen is 8.5 cm. That reason is that patients focus on the linear number and have no appreciation for the amount of volume that such an implant size creates. Somewhat like breast implants the effects of testicle implants are more about volume there are about any specific linear measurement. But no matter what larger size testicle implant is chosen before surgery you never know absolutely until you’re trying to place them what will and will not fit. Thus when one chooses an extreme size they have to be prepared that that might not actually fit and would have to be reduced down in surgery.

Unlike breast implants there are no adjustable testicle implants. These are ultra soft solid implants in a specific size has to be chosen before surgery. This does not mean that one could not do an inadvertent two stage procedure, meaning the largest size that will fit is initially placed and then an even larger size can be placed later. This is a form of tissue expansion without using a tissue expander which does not exist for the scrotum anyway.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon