Is Jelqing the Secret to a Bigger Member?

“NIH is trying to cure cancer and heart disease,” Dr. Brandeis says. “They don’t really care about growing penises.”

“In general, the data surrounding many techniques is somewhat limited,” Dr. Eisenberg adds. “There is some data that penile traction devices can improve penile length, but it is mostly done in the context of men with specific conditions” (such as Peyronie’s disease or after prostate surgery).

Within the PE community, the question is rarely “Does this work?” but “When do you stop?” Dr. Brandeis says his patients have stopped his P-Long program when they became dysfunctionally large. In his 30s and 40s, Salvini grew from 6.5 to 11 inches using a program he designed called Suppressed-Restricted-Transposition Theory. It combines Slow Squash Jelqs with stretching and twisting the penis in a device he invented called the LengthMaster. Experienced guys can get three full rotations, Salvini says.

Now, Salvini expresses some regret at going too far. “At 6.5 inches, she’s gonna be very happy with your size,” he says. “You’re at nine, she’s probably not going to want it. You’re at 11, you’re just a fucking walking dildo.”

Caleb, currently at seven inches, has had girls tell him he should do OnlyFans. He says he’ll consider it at nine. Ian stopped before his goal size at his girlfriend’s request. “Would it be great to be bigger? Yeah,” he says. “Does my girlfriend want it? No.”

PE carries other risks beyond going up a pant size. The most dreaded injury among the PE community is hard flaccid syndrome, a chronic, painful condition where your penis stays semi-rigid whether you have an erection or not. It’s not well understood, but Hink believes it’s caused by clenching during stretching, which stresses the pelvic muscles.

BD reports discoloration of the penis from petechiae—small red dots, usually caused by pumping—and hemosiderin staining—dark brown areas caused by red blood cells leaking through the skin.

BD also says that jelqing can damage the pudendal nerve on the top of the penis. Clark says hand-based exercises are more dangerous, particularly in terms of bruising.

“We’ve all got different levels of strength and pain perception,” Clark said. “A good stretch to one guy might be a good stretch, and for two or three other guys might be, ‘Crap, I’ve pulled too hard.’”

“Most risks to penile manipulation or traction devices relate to discomfort [or] redness which typically resolves with time,”Dr. Eisenberg says. But, he added that overmanipulation can cause penile injury and that using these techniques while erect could lead to a penile fracture.

Nevertheless, many men in the PE community appear willing to take those risks in the name of self-improvement.

“This is what the fitness industry was 10 or 20 years ago,” Hink says. “Supplements, creatine, and lifting weights were a fringe community.”

But that’s changing as men become more interested in cosmetic enhancement generally. “This is just one aspect of this looksmaxxing and male optimization era that we’re in right now,” Hink says.

No matter how many inches they add, the real growth, they say, is internal. “For me, it was the gateway to confidence because it gave me at least a little bit of control in my life,” BD says. “I grew my dick. I did the impossible.”