Six years ago, New York plastic surgeon David Shafer was performing filler injections on a female patient’s face as her boyfriend looked on. It’s a routine cosmetic service, as these things go: filler is a gel-like substance designed to be shot below the skin for aesthetic tweaks. Half-jokingly, the man asked the doctor if he could do that same procedure to his penis. Rather than roll his eyes, Shafer told me that a light went off in his head. Not only could he do it, but the boyfriend could be his guinea pig. There’s no polite way to say this: Two days later the man returned to the office to have his dick pumped up with dermal filler.
“He called me a week later,” Shafer told me recently. “And said, ‘Doc, I love it. Can I come back and get more?’”
Now plastic surgeons around the country are offering penis enlargement with the same tech used to plump lips and define jawlines. Shafer's version, which he’s named the Shafer Width and Girth procedure (or, uh, SWAG), is a hit. “It’s become a huge part of our business,” he said. “When I first started it was one or two a week, then one a day, then two a day. Now it’s four or five a day.” The procedure has gained so much momentum that in January the clinic opened up an entire floor dedicated exclusively to below-the-belt injections.
By all accounts, it’s a quick and easy procedure. Patients are first numbed with a shot of anesthetics at the base of their shaft before it’s then shot up with syringes of hyaluronic acid-based filler. Shafer uses Voluma or the newer Volux brand, which are more typically used for firmer areas of the face (the cheeks and chin) as opposed to areas that require softer consistencies, like the lips. Depending on the patient's preference, this can require 10 to 20 syringes of filler, setting a patient back anywhere between $11,000 to $20,000. While the results begin instantly, the full effects won't be seen (and felt) for about two weeks, and intercourse is discouraged for 48 hours after the surgery.
“It looks like your penis gained weight,” Shafer said. “If you have a thin arm and then you gain weight and your arm gets thicker? It's like that.” And while it technically doesn’t add inches, Shafer does say that the added weight can often create an elongated appearance.
A patient who I’ll call Jason said he stumbled on Dr. Shafer when scouring the Internet for penile enhancement products. “I never had any complaints about my size, and had what I considered a healthy sex life,” he said. “But I was always looking for something more. I think it’s beneficial to try to optimize ourselves, and whether it’s in the gym, or how we eat, or, trying a procedure like this, I feel it’s a way to enhance what we have, and just another process to become the best version of ourselves.”
Jason told me he was nervous on his first visit, but still dropped $12,000 on injections. “I’m generally a reserved person, so you could imagine discussing private parts is difficult enough,” he said. “But pulling down your pants and saying, ‘Hey, I would like to try to make this better’ can truly be a daunting thing.”
He said the result speaks for itself: “Not only does sex feel physically better, but the excitement around it is heightened due to the confidence attained.” It appears that you can, in fact, buy big dick energy: “It’s walking around with this new, heavy dick that truly feels amazing.”
One might guess that penile injections are for single men only, but William (not his real name) got injections during a short-term separation from his wife and, now that they've reconciled, has gone back for more. While he may have gotten them during a low period, he discovered that they enhance both his and his partner’s intercourse experience. More girth, of course, means more friction, and he said that the sensation for him is superior — that the filler feels like his penis is wrapped in a jelly-like substance. “It’s hard to explain,” he told me. “It just feels better.”
Down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, dermatologist Dr. Matthew Zarraga has cooked up a similar procedure, called Z Roc Hard. It’s a more comprehensive penile treatment that, in addition to dermal fillers, includes double chin treatment Kybella to break-up suprapubic fat over the genitals (which can give the penis a small appearance); platelet rich plasma injections into the shaft which can increase vascularity and sensitivity; and botox into the testicles for a smoother, larger appearance. While the whole shebang cost up to $18,000, Zarraga still has guys flying in from all over the country for appointments
He recalls one man who had been considering the procedure for some time before his wife encouraged him to bite the bullet. She told him that, while she was perfectly satisfied, she had gotten a boob job. Along those lines, if he wanted to get penile injections to make himself feel better, he should do it. “I injected him with six syringes,” Zarraga said, “and he comes back a month later and says ‘I haven’t had this much sex with my wife in years. she loved the outcome so much that she wants me to get another six.’”
But it goes without saying that the benefits are often more for the recipient’s state of mind. It’s telling that Shafer has said that he’s seen plenty of guys who are quite well-endowed come in wanting to beef up.
“Look, I have porn stars that come in who are like a horse,” he said. “And even they want more.”