Buried Penis In Adults: Causes & Treatment

What Is Buried Penis?

A buried penis is when a man has a normal-sized penis that is hidden, usually by his belly skin or fat.

While it has primarily been seen in newborns and eventually goes away as they grow, in adults this tends to happen to men who are overweight and can only be corrected with surgery.

Buried Penis is also often referred to as:

Adult Acquired Buried Penis (AABP)
Buried penile syndrome
Concealed penis
Inconspicuous penis
Hidden penis

Definition of Buried Penis Syndrome

A buried penis is a condition that usually happens in adult men because of obesity.

It can make it hard for men to control their urine, keep clean, and be sexually active because the penis is hidden.

The extra fat from obesity can trap urine and create a moist area, which might lead to infections and inflammation. These problems can make the situation worse.

Even after losing a lot of weight or having bariatric surgery, some men may still have issues because of extra skin on their lower belly.

Signs & Symptoms of Buried Penile Syndrome

The main problem with buried penis is that your penis doesn’t stick out and seems tucked into the surrounding tissue.

This makes it hard to pee or even keep your penis clean.

You should be able to get your penis to come out by pushing on the skin and fat surrounding it.

If there’s a lot of inflammation or scar tissue that has cropped up around the penile area, this can trap your penis so you can’t expose it at all. This will lead to:

Pain
Balanitis
Phimosis
Depression
Sexual Dysfunction
Odor
Frequent Infections
Dribbling
Not being able to see part or any of the penis

What Causes Buried Penis?

While there are a few different possible causes, the main source of Adult Acquired Buried Penis is obesity.

There isn’t much research on how common buried penis is in adults, but it’s likely that more men are experiencing it as obesity rates continue to go up.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity rates have more than doubled since 1990. In 2022, about 16% of adults worldwide were obese, with a BMI of 30 or higher. That’s 890 million people.

Obesity

Obesity is the #1 cause of buried penis in adults.

The extra fat in the prepubic fat pad (escutcheon) or the pannus (low hanging belly fat) can cause the penis to become buried within the fat and folds.

As a result of the extra weight, the dartos fascia, a long, thin muscle in the penis, wears down and eventually detaches.

This sets off a chain reaction in which the body begins to reabsorb the penile shaft, causing further problems with things like hygiene, peeing, and having sex.

Another major complication that is due to the resulting constant inflammation caused by buried penis is the development of penile cancer.¹

A common problem for men with buried penis due to obesity is transfigurative PE (premature ejaculation).

Transfigurative PE causes a man with a buried penis to ejaculate too quickly because only the tip of the penis (where all the orgasmic nerve endings are located) is able to penetrate during sex.

Because only the head is exposed, a man must thrust much harder, causing discomfort for both he and his partner.

Other problems such as frequent fungal and bacterial infections, erectile dysfunction, depression, odor, and balanitis (severe inflammation of the head of the penis that causes pain, redness, and foul-smelling discharge) occur as a result of a buried penis due to obesity.

Scrotal Lymphedema

Scrotal lymphedema can cause a buried penis by causing swelling around the scrotum that hides the penis.

This swelling of the scrotum is caused by something affecting your lymphatic system and causing swelling around your scrotum area.

Scrotal lymphedema is usually caused by things like certain cancer treatments, lymph node dissection, infection, and silicone injections anywhere in the pelvic area.

Complications of Penile Enlargement

Rejuvall guarantees none of our procedures involve the use of silicone

Popular procedures to make the penis larger include cutting the suspensory ligament or placing different materials between the skin and the inner layer called the tunica albuginea.

These materials are often implants, silicone injections, or other substances. Sometimes, similar materials are also added to the scrotum.

However, if performed incorrectly, these procedures can lead to problems like scarring, which may cause the penis to shorten and deform.

Other issues can include lumps under the skin and the formation of openings and sores that can partially or completely bury the penis.

This is especially true when silicone is used for penis enlargement.

Silicone is very dangerous, not just because of the risk of developing buried penis as a result, but because once the silicone is in your body, it doesn’t break down and it slowly migrates to major organs causing things like liver or kidney failure.

Silicone also traps any bacteria you may pick up in the area it was injected, causing life-threatening resistance to treatment with antibiotics.

Finally, silicone injected into the penis also eventually hardens and causes necrosis (death) of the penis.

Aggressive Neonatal Circumcision

If too much foreskin is removed during circumcision shortly after birth, this can cause problems later in life.

The overly tight skin can eventually pull forward, hiding the penis by causing it to drop back into the surrounding fatty area.

Lichen Sclerosus (LS)

Lichen sclerosus is a chronic skin condition that typically presents as itchy white patches in the genital or anal regions.

It is often linked to obesity and may elevate the risk of urethral stricture.

Lichen sclerosus can lead to phimosis, a condition in which the foreskin is too tight to retract. A phimotic band may cause the penis to be retracted and buried.

Inflammatory changes in the skin of the penis due to LS can also result in scar tissue formation, which may trap the penis and cause it to become buried beneath the penile skin.

Complications From Acquired Buried Penis

Not being able to access part or all of the penis can cause many problems, as you can imagine.

These are just some of the complications that have been known to arise from having a buried penis:

Inability to urinate
Erectile Dysfunction
Inability to have intercourse
Frequent infection
Phimosis
Chronic inflammation
Pain
Dribbling
Penile cancer
Depression
UTIs
Poor hygiene
Lichen sclerosus
Balanitis
Meatal stenosis
Low quality of life

Treatment of Buried Penis

While certain steroids and antibiotics may be prescribed to treat complications associated with buried penis, the only effective way to treat buried penis itself is through surgery.

Buried penis surgery is a multi-step process that includes the following procedures:

Pannus and/or escutcheon (fat pad) removal
Unburying of penis
Removal of dead or diseased tissue
Split-thickness skin graft (STSG)
Scrotoplasty (if needed)

While patients who had bariatric surgery or lost significant weight by other means prior to buried penis surgery had fewer complications and better results after buried penis surgery, simply losing weight will not resolve a buried penis.²

This is mostly due to the resulting drooping skin that remains after major weight loss.

What Happens After Buried Penis Surgery

Studies show that men with a buried penis often have a lower quality of life and higher rates of depression.

However, some research indicates that surgery to fix the condition can lead to improvements.

In one study, after surgery, men reported better sexual enjoyment, improved hygiene, and fewer problems with urination.³

Another study found that most patients felt better overall after their surgery, showing improvements in urination and sexual function compared to before the operation.⁴

Possible Complications of Buried Penis Surgery

These studies also found that patients who had weight loss surgery or a BMI under 40 before having buried penis surgery tended to have a faster recovery and more improved quality of life post-surgery.

They also had fewer complications as compared to the patients who did not lose weight before buried penis surgery.⁵

Complications experienced included the following:

Infection
Readmission
Deep vein thrombosis
Cardiac/pulmonary/vascular complications
Graft loss
Lymphedema
Contracture of grafts
Recurrent lichen sclerosus

Most complications that were experienced were related to the skin graft or surgical wounds.

Notably, there was a 10% increase in complication risk for every unit increase of BMI.

Patient Outcomes of Buried Penis Surgery

According to these studies, patients who underwent surgery to correct their buried penis experienced the following after recovery:

Patients could pee standing up
Patients could have sex
Lower rate of ED
Better orgasms
Lower risk of penile cancer
Lower rate of infection
Less irritation
Lower rate of Depression
91% increase in quality of life
92% said they would have the surgery again
85% said surgery remained a long-term success
100% who had undergone prior gastric bypass said they would have the surgery again

Ready to fix your buried penis?

Rejuvall specializes in buried penis surgery for men who have Adult Acquired Buried Penis (AABP).

Our chief surgeon, Dr. Kenneth J. Carney developed surgical techniques to correct buried penile syndrome with visually appealing results and minimal recovery time.

Fill out the form below to get started and book your free phone consultation with our Patient Education Manager, John.

John is a former Rejuvall patient himself, so he understands the importance of care and privacy when having a conversation about cosmetic urology.

Pekala KR, Pelzman D, Theisen KM, Rogers D, Maganty A, Fuller TW, Rusilko PJ. The Prevalence of Penile Cancer in Patients With Adult Acquired Buried Penis. Urology. 2019;133:229-233
Hampson LA, Muncey W, Chung PH, et al. Surgical and Functional Outcomes Following Buried Penis Repair With Limited Panniculectomy and Split-thickness Skin Graft. Urology. 2017;110:234-238. doi:10.1016/j.urology.2017.07.021
King ICC, Tahir A, Ramanathan C, Siddiqui H. Buried Penis: Evaluation of Outcomes in Children and Adults, Modification of a Unified Treatment Algorithm, and Review of the Literature. Int Schol Res Notices. 2013;2013:109349. doi:10.1155/2013/109349.
Rybak J, Larsen S, Yu M, Levine LA. Single Center Outcomes After Reconstructive Surgical Correction of Adult Acquired Buried Penis: Measurements of Erectile Function, Depression, and Quality of Life. J Sex Med. 2014;11(4):1086-1091.
Voznesensky MA, Lawrence WT, Keith JN, Erickson BA. Patient-Reported Social, Psychological, and Urologic Outcomes After Adult Buried Penis Repair. Urology. 2017;103:240-244.

Dr. Steven L. Morganstern, M.D.

Dr. Morganstern is an internationally acclaimed, board-certified urologist, surgeon, and best-selling author specializing in men’s sexual health. A pioneer in erectile dysfunction therapeutics, Dr. Morganstern was the only private clinician selected for the original Viagra trials and has spent over four decades advancing treatments in ED, penile enlargement, hormone replacement, and prostate health.