Michael Phillips, from\u00a0North Carolina<\/a>, has long claimed to have the smallest manhood.<\/p>\n He said he realized that he was ‘smaller than average’ in childhood, but it wasn’t until many years later that he decided to get it checked out.<\/p>\n Last year, the then 36-year-old, whose penis apparently measures in at just under an inch, was diagnosed with a rare\u00a0medical<\/a>\u00a0condition, most commonly known as\u00a0having a micropenis.<\/a><\/p>\n According\u00a0to<\/a>\u00a0the Cleveland Clinic, a micropenis is an ‘atypically small penis that’s discovered in infancy or early childhood’.<\/p>\n Despite the confirmation, Michael says he’s struggled to grapple with the diagnosis. That, and there’s one major hiccup he says he faces day to day.<\/p>\n A micropenis is one that measures in below 3 inches (Getty)<\/cite><\/div>\n \u201cThe biggest challenges I\u2019ve faced [are] having a sexual relationship and still being a virgin and being able to talk about it openly because of how embarrassing of a topic it is,\u201d Michael explained, as\u00a0per<\/a>\u00a0IGV.<\/p>\n The man said he was deterred from dating or pursuing\u00a0romantic<\/a>, sexual relationships after a girl in school saw his penis and laughed at him.<\/p>\n The medical condition, caused by a deficiency of fetal testosterone, is usually diagnosed in people who measure under three inches, with the Cleveland Clinic further stating that it affects around 1.5 in 100,000 people in the\u00a0US<\/a>, though it is pretty rare at around 0.6 per cent of the\u00a0worldwide<\/a>\u00a0population.<\/p>\n For some, early hormonal treatment can help stimulate growth ‘toward a more normal length,’ which the Clinic defines as around 5.25 inches with a stretched penile length of 3.67 inches or less, indicating a micropenis.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the biggest misconception is that if a guy has a small penis, he just has a small penis, and not that there may be a medical thing going on,” Michael continued. “More people need to be aware that there is a medical condition called micro penis.”<\/p>\n Speaking to The Sun at the time, he said he didn’t realize there was a medical term or even a condition about the size of his manhood.<\/p>\n He says one of the biggest challenges of the condition is having a sexual relationship (Getty)<\/cite><\/div>\n “I was always aware it had been small, but wasn’t aware there was a condition for it,” he\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0the outlet. “The main reason I went to the doctor was because my penis is actually too small to have sex at all.”<\/p>\n Michael added: “I have had a couple experiences of having sex and wasn’t able to get it in and everything. From there I just stopped trying to date and lost interest in it.”<\/p>\n Since his diagnosis, Michael has been raising awareness of the condition, though he’s struggled to come to terms with it himself.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still not sure that I have yet fully come to terms with having a micro penis,\u201d he continued, though he said it has got some positives.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/images.ladbible.com\/resize?type=webp&quality=70&width=3840&fit=contain&gravity=auto&url=https:\/\/images.ladbiblegroup.com\/v3\/assets\/blt949ea8e16e463049\/blta42db29d12809c83\/6946c8dcb59e4569ce517e99\/micropensi.jpg\")
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