The pubertial process

Penis development initiates early in puberty, and continue during the whole of the puberty time, and may continue also after puberty. The products described above enhance this natural continued penis development, or start this development again if it has stopped.

For boys the onset of puberty is between 9.5 and 13.5 years (in 95%) and puberty completes by the ages 15-17 years. Growth hormone and androgens are the factors mediating puberty.

The pubertial development proceedes generally as follows, with the signs listed here in chronological order.:

Stage 1 - The prepubertal stage

Stage 2 (Begins 9.5-13.5 years)

• Enlargement of the testes (testicular enlargement) and the scrotum.

• Reddening and rugosity of the scrotal skin .

Stage 3 (Begins 10.5-14.5 years)

• Pubic hair development

• Penis grows in length .

• Spermatogenesis (production of sperm cells)

• Thinning of the scrotal skin

• Fluids from the prostate increases and ejaculation is possible. (Semen  production).

Stage 4

• Penile growth in width, glans enlargement

• The axillary hair begin growing.

• Growth of facial hair

• Laryngeal growth and lengthening of vocal cords, cusing woise break.

Stage 5 - Adult

• Continued increase in penis size to some extend

Peak growth rate occurs between the ages of 12-17 years. Testosterone inhibits the growth spurt by fusing of the epiphyses.

The pubertial development  is controlled by hormons. The hypothalamus performs the superior comtrol. This part of the brain begin excreting the gonadotropin-releasing hormone or GnRH (also known as LH-releasing hormone) that influences the pituitary gland (hypophysis), a gland placed inside the skull below the hypothalamus, so that this gland increases its own production of hormones, .

Under the influence of GnRh, the pituitary then increaces the production of the hormons luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), that in turn influences the testicles.

LH now stimulates the testicles to increase the production of testosterone that is the main hormone causing the pubertal development. FSH stimulates the testicles to produce sperm cells.

The penile foreskin

The foreskin (or prepuce) is a natural, retractile, protective covering for the glans (head) of the penis, and is the most erotogenic area of the penis in terms of the quantity, concentration, and quality of specialized nerve receptors and stretch receptors that it is endowed with, especially on its inner mucosal lining (which gets redeployed behind the glans during erection).

The average adult foreskin consists of 1½ inches of outer skin, 1½ inches of inner mucosal lining – totaling a length of 3 inches – and is 5 inches in circumference when erect. This amounts to a surface area of 15 square inches, or a surface area equivalent to that of a 3" by 5" inch index card!

The foreskin contains over 240 feet of nerves and over 1,000 nerve endings, as well as being a highly vascularized structure.

The foreskin contains “junctional mucosa that appear to be an important component of the overall sensory mechanism of the human penis”
–J. R. Taylor et al. The prepuce: specialized mucosa of the penis and its loss to circumcision. British Journal of Urology (1996) 77, pp. 291-295.

The foreskin is not vestigial or redundant tissue, in that no other part of the male body does what the foreskin does, or feels what the foreskin feels.

The foreskin serves to protect the glans, thereby maintaining the glans-surface’s naturally-intended thinness, texture, and sensitivity.

The foreskin has rich sensations in and of itself. The foreskin also plays a mechanical-lubrication role. It serves as a gliding sheath during masturbation or sexual activity, rendering the quality of the friction between the man and his partner more gentle, less abrasive. This is useful to the woman, especially with prolonged intercourse and especially with age, when she provides less liquid lubrication.

The fact that the foreskin in infancy is usually non-retractile serves to protect the baby’s glans penis from urine and feces during the period that he is incontinent.

Women have a foreskin as well, which covers and protects their clitoris. It is alternatively referred to as the clitoral foreskin, clitoral prepuce, or clitoral hood.

Foreskin development

Development of the foreskin is incomplete in the newborn male child, and separation from the glans, making it retractable, does not usually occur until some time between 9 months and 3 years.

Tight non-rectractile foreskin (normal developmental non-retractability, or physiological phimosis) resolves by age 6 in 92% of boys, 94% by their teens. 1% of late adolescents will still have a non-retractile foreskin. (Gentle, systematic stretching is indicated to resolve this. Moreover, steroid creams are successful in resolving this in the vast majority of cases when this is a problem.)

A young child will often have an excessive foreskin that totally covers the glans  and form a narrowed tip in front of the glans. As the penis developes, the foreskin widens, but usually do not grow in length, so that in an adult the foreskin will cover the glans, but let the urinaryopening be exposed when the penis is unerected, and exposes the glans fully or partially when erected.
 

Tanner`s scale of pubertial maturation of boys

This is a measure of a boys maturation often used. However, each stage in this scale do not correspond to an exact age span, and a boy may have a mixture of maturity signs that do not correspond to an spesific stage of this scale. Also the stage definitions contain a certain degree of racism, as it seems to be based upon an averidge picture of the development of boys of a certain social class of a caucasoid north european population. The scale is therefore of limited value.