Medical students in the UK stumbled upon an extremely rare case of a man with three penises while assessing a body donated for research.
Around one in six million male babies are estimated to be born with two penile shafts, a condition called diphallia. Only about 100 cases have been recorded in the past 400 years since it was first medically recognised.
A rare medical condition where a person is born with three penises would likely fall under the category of a congenital anomaly related to diphallia, a condition where an individual is born with two penises. Diphallia itself is already incredibly rare, occurring in about 1 in 5-6 million births. If a case involving three penises were to exist, it would be an extraordinary and likely unprecedented anomaly in medical literature.
Such a condition could arise due to anomalies in embryonic development, particularly during the early stages of genital formation. Genital differentiation happens during the first few months of fetal development, and disruptions or duplications in this process could lead to conditions like diphallia, or in this hypothetical case, triphallia. Depending on the functionality and development of these organs, this condition could present a range of medical and surgical challenges, including issues with urination, sexual function, and infection risks.
While extremely rare, cases like these would attract significant medical interest due to the uniqueness and potential insights into human developmental biology. It would also likely be the subject of a detailed case report to contribute to the limited scientific knowledge on such anomalies.