Firstly, what are “normal” size testicles?
Before you worry about whether you need to increase their size, let’s cover what’s normal. Testes (testicles) are three-dimensional objects, so their size is measured in volume. In the majority of men, the volume of each testis is between 20-30 ml. That’s roughly 3.5-5.5 cm long and two to three centimetres across for a 3D oval shape. Around the size of a small egg. The left testis (testicle) is usually slightly smaller than the right one.
How to make testicles (look) bigger
Testes aren’t like muscles – you can’t make them bigger by making them work harder.
Unless your testes are particularly small because of hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism, there’s no proven way to make them larger.
It is possible to have surgery to make your testes look bigger, just like it’s possible for females to have surgery to make their breasts look bigger.
Testicular augmentation surgery can be done in a few ways. It seems that the most common technique is to place a prosthetic testis (an oval-shaped silicone ball filled with either saline or soft silicone) into each side of the scrotum in front of the testes. Since the prosthetic testes are bigger than the person’s own testes, it is possible to position the prosthetic one with the natural one ‘hiding’ behind it. From the front, it just looks like you have bigger testes.
Less common surgical techniques for augmentation include injection of patients’ own fat (from another part of the body) under the connective tissue that surrounds the testis, and then there’s “testicular augmentation using chin implants”.
What to do if you think your testes are too small
Small testes may be a sign of a health problem that can be treated, like Klinefelter Syndrome.
If you’re concerned about the size of your testes, the best thing to do is make an appointment with your general practitioner to discuss your concerns with them.
Tim Moss
Healthy Male Health Content Manager
Dr Tim Moss has PhD in physiology and more than 20 years’ experience as a biomedical research scientist. Tim stepped away from his successful academic career at the end of 2019, to apply his skills in turning complicated scientific and medical knowledge into information that all people can use to improve their health and wellbeing. Tim has written for crikey.com and Scientific American’s Observations blog, which is far more interesting than his authorship of over 150 academic publications. He has studied science communication at the Alan Alda Centre for Communicating Science in New York, and at the Department of Biological Engineering Communication Lab at MIT in Boston.
