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Most men notice that their scrotum, the sack of skin that holds the testicles, starts to sag as they get older. This process might start as early as your teenage years.
Saggy testicles are a natural part of aging, and don’t necessarily indicate that there’s anything wrong with your scrotum or your testicles. However, if your scrotum looks swollen or misshapen, it’s best to follow up with your doctor. These may be signs of an underlying condition requiring treatment.
Keep reading to learn more about why testicles sag and what you can do to slow down this natural process.
Your testicles naturally hang away from your body to keep your testicles at the right temperature for sperm production. While your body temperature typically hovers around 98.6°F, your testicles need to be a few degrees cooler to support healthy sperm production.
The cremaster muscle reflex controls how close your testicles sit in relation to your groin area to keep their temperature consistent. Your testicles naturally hang away from the body, but when it’s cold, the cremaster reflex pulls your testicles closer to your groin to keep them warm. Your testicles also tend to move closer to your body when you’re sexually aroused, so they might look less saggy before or during sex.
Keep in mind that some men simply have lower-hanging testicles than others. Skin elasticity, which refers to your skin’s ability to stretch and return to its normal state, varies widely from person to person. Skin also loses elasticity as you age, causing wrinkles and, for many men, saggy testicles.
While saggy testicles are completely normal, some people don’t like the look of them. In some cases, a procedure called scrotoplasty or scrotal reduction can help. These procedures remove extra skin from your scrotum, which can help it appear less saggy.
Scrotoplasty is usually an outpatient procedure, meaning you can go home the day of the procedure. It only takes about 30 to 60 minutes to complete. You’ll need about a week to recover, though your scrotum may feel sore for several weeks after the surgery.
If you’re considering having a scrotal reduction procedure, make sure you explore all of your options by consulting with more than one surgeon, if possible. You can bring this checklist from the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery to each consultation to help guide your research and keep track of different surgeons.
Before deciding to do the procedure, make sure you have a realistic understanding of the possible results. While scrotoplasty can make your testicles look less saggy, this effect often wears off as you get older.
The internet is full of tips and tricks to make your testicles less saggy. Many of these involve exercises, such as:
- holding your urethra muscles while you pull down on your scrotum
- lifting your scrotum up toward your stomach
- Kegel exercises
These exercises might seem like an easy fix, but there’s no scientific evidence that they work. Skin elasticity, temperature, and cremaster muscle reflexes all contribute to the way your scrotum looks. Aside from surgery, there’s no way to address all of these factors.
Sagging skin is a natural part of aging, and there’s no way to completely prevent it. Even if you opt for surgery, the skin of your scrotum will eventually begin to sag.
You can, however, slow down your skin’s overall loss of elasticity by:
- drinking plenty of water (about 64 ounces each day, depending on your level of activity)
- getting regular exercise (about 30 minutes of light exercise every day).
- not smoking
- limiting your alcohol intake
- moisturizing your skin with natural, unscented lotion
- getting plenty of vitamins A, B, C, and E as well as sorbitol and omega 3 fatty acids in your diet
Remember, your testicles need to be able to move closer to and farther away from your body, depending on the temperature. As a result, the skin of your scrotum will likely always be saggier than the rest of your skin. You may not like the appearance of saggy skin, but it’s an important feature of your scrotum that’s vital to sperm production.
In addition to exercises, there are several other tips floating around that promise to make your testicles less saggy:
- Wearing tight underwear. This might make your testicles feel less saggy temporarily, but they’ll return to their usual position as soon as you take off your underwear.
- Using creams, lotions, or oils. These can all help to moisturize your skin and slow down the loss of elasticity, but nothing can completely stop this process. Avoid any moisturizers that claim to make your testicles less saggy. These are usually much more expensive than regular body lotions and don’t have any added benefit.
- Taking vitamins or hormones. Like moisturizers, vitamins can help to slow down your skin’s loss of elasticity. However, no vitamins or hormone boosts will reverse this process. Again, avoid any supplements or treatments that claim to treat sagging testicles.
- Masturbating less. Masturbation and other sexual activities have no effect on the elasticity of your skin or the size of your testicles. In fact, having an erection can sometimes make your testicles look less saggy.
Sagging is a built-in function of your scrotum that allows your testicles to produce healthy sperm. As you get older, this trait might become more noticeable as your skin naturally starts to lose elasticity. While there’s nothing you can do to reverse or stop this process, you can try adopting certain habits, such as drinking plenty of water, to slow it down. If the sagging causes you distress, you can always talk to your doctor about scrotoplasty to remove extra skin from your scrotum.