This is what happens to your penis as you get older

Growing old is a marvellous thing.

You become wiser with age, you find out who your friends truly are, and you slowly start to get a handle on exactly what matters in life.

However, not all of you benefits from the ageing process. Joints become more difficult to move, your hair might fall out and a man's penis... Well, that undergoes some changes too.

Men’s Health interviewed Brian Steixner, director of the Institute of Men’s Health for the Jersey Urology Group to find out more about what happens to your wedding tackle as you grow older.

He said to watch out for these five changes:

1. Drooping

Your scrotum will droop as you age, thanks to a loss in muscle mass. The worst case scenario is you’ll develop “splash down” syndrome, where your scrotum hits the toilet water as you sit down.

2. Shrinking

Permanent shrinking, not just what happens when your Aunt Flo insists on kissing you on the mouth at every family do.

This happens because non-elastic fibres called collagen replace normal cells over time.

Steixner says the best thing to do to limit the damage is to make sure you don’t have excess fat around your gut, as this means more penis gets buried under the skin.

3. Bending

As you age, scar tissue builds up along the penis thanks to repeated but harmless trauma, often the result of sex and sports. And it won’t build up evenly on both sides, so you’ll most likely develop a bend.

Steizner told Men’s Health:

Into your 60s and 70s it can get worse and worse. I’ve seen patients (whose penises) look for all appearances like a question mark.

4. Erectile dysfunction

Erectile dysfunction is a result of blood loss. Despite there being many medical treatments available, Steixner says the best way to combat it is to eat healthily and exercise.

He told Mean’s Health:

I have patients in their 90s who have perfect erections because they’ve taken care of themselves.

5. Cancer

As you age you become more prone to prostate and testicular cancers. But there is also a risk of developing skin cancer on the penis itself; Steixner advises avoiding tanning beds, and keeping everything clean down there.

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