What's The Difference Between A ‘Grower’ And A ‘Shower?’ Science Has An Answer

If you’ve ever wondered if you’re a shower or a grower but weren’t sure exactly how to make the determination, you’re in luck — science has the answer. And it turns out knowing the difference isn’t just a fun fact about yourself. saidAccording to research presented this week at the European Association of Urology Congress in Milan, understanding how penises grow is important when making surgical decisions.

“It is important to be able to predict if a patient is a grower or a shower as when we see them, they are usually in a flaccid state,” Manuel Alonso-Isa, a urologist at the University Hospital HM Puerta del Sur in Madrid, Spain, explained in a press release. “If they grow a lot when they get an erection, it might mean they need a different surgical approach compared to someone who doesn’t grow much.”

To that end, Alonso-Isa and his team examined ultrasound scans from 225 men while flaccid and erect. The researchers discovered that erection growth follows the pattern of a standard deviation curve and so can be categorized — grower, shower, and an in-betweener they termed the “grey zone” — and predicted.

So, how do you know which you are? It’s simple: If your penis is at least 56% larger with an erection than without, you’re a grower. If your penis is less than 31% larger with an erection than without, you’re a shower. If your penis is in between, you are in the “grey zone,” like most everyone else.

Alonso-Isa explained that the majority of penises are neither showers nor growers. Only around a quarter of men fell within the parameters of shower or grower, while the other 50% had penises that fell within the average on the standard deviation curve for size change.

The researchers also found that showers usually have longer flaccid penises (around 4.5 inches) than growers (around 3.5 inches).

The research team found no correlation between penis growth and weight, age, or lifestyle factors. No mention was made of shoe size, but previous studies have shown that larger noses do, in fact, correlate to longer erect penises.

The scientists did, however, learn that the tunica albuginea, a stretchy fibrous tissue found around erectile tissue, was thinner in erect growers. “This makes sense as the tissue is being stretched further,” said Alonso-Isa. “So it could be that this tissue has more elastic fibres in men who are growers than those who are showers. But we need to do more research to prove this hypothesis."

"This is a frequent area of concern for our patients, and the emphasis should be on normalising baseline and erectile length for all,” said Professor Maarten Albersen, a urologist at the University of Leuven, Belgium, who was not involved in the research.

Ultimately — and for practical purposes — being a shower or a grower doesn’t matter. Normalizing penis size and decreasing the stigma surrounding certain penis sizes is the important thing.