How Much Plastic Is in Your Body—Down There?

One of the most shocking studies of 2025 was a report in the journal Nature Medicine that found a spoon’s worth of microplastics in brains of people who had died in 2024–a 50% increase in plastic brain volume versus the last time a similar study was conducted, in 2016. Researchers found that plastic levels were about 5 times higher in people who had been diagnosed with dementia, compared with those who had not. 

So I wasn’t surprised when the guys at Generation Xcellent asked me the logical next question: Does that mean there’s plastic in our penises as well?

Um, yep. In a small study, University of Miami researchers looked at the tissue of men who underwent surgery for penile prosthesis. They found that 80% of the penile tissue samples in the study contained microplastics. .

Related:   Is your manhood shrinking? Here’s how tell!

Now, this is just a small sample. They took tissue from 6 men who were already impotent and not responding to oral therapy or intra-penile injections. Their erectile tissue was already in bad shape. And while no conclusive link can be made between microplastics and their impact on our erections, it’s hard not to think there could be a connection. 

PET, which is also used in clear plastic bottles, has been found to cause hormonal imbalances, reduced immune function, nervous system disorders and even cancer in humans. Polypropylene, on the other hand, has been shown to have anti-androgenic properties. (That means they’re a testosterone-killer.) There’s also that little death problem: Recent research has linked plastic particles in our bodies to more than 50K  heart-related fatalities a year in the US.

But how did plastic get into your phallus? Most plastics aren’t biodegradable, so whatever we put into the environment–400 million tons of it, every single year–is still there, where it can enter your body through drinking water, food, even the air you breathe. Your penis might contain PET from a water bottle you drank from yesterday–especially if you let it get hot in your car. It might come from the tiny dust particles that fly up when you pull on a shirt or rip open a package. And, as a surgeon, I’m well aware that polypropylene is a primary component of surgical masks. But your penis might also contain bits of plastic from a Play-Doh container you threw away when you were 5—again, once plastic enters the environment, it never goes away.

The point is, we know this stuff is inside of us: Plastic particles have been found in the brain, the lungs, the liver, breast milk, placental tissue and now penile tissue. But we don’t know what it’s doing to us.

The best way to cut down your exposure is to look at your food and water supply. Choose cans over bottles and glass storage containers over plastic. And don’t put anything in the dishwasher or microwave that you wouldn’t put in the oven; both devices can damage plastic and cause them to leach into your food. Those steaks you bought at the store? Take them out of the styrofoam and wrap them in aluminum foil, then a freezer bag, before you pop them in the fridge.

—Elizabeth Kavaler, M.D., is a surgeon and Medical Director of Total Urology Care of New York.