Why does your left testicle hang lower?
While 65 percent of women have a left breast that is larger than the right, the same percentage of men have a left testis that hangs lower in the scrotum than the right. The left testicle also tends to be 7-10 percent smaller.
Why?
It’s a question that won an IgNobel prize for Chris McManus. Although scrotal asymmetry is faithfully reproduced in Greek sculpture, the British psychologist observed, the Greeks weren’t exactly anatomically correct. Greek sculptors faithfully made the left ball lower, but they mistakenly made it larger. Absurdly, they thought the testicles acted like weights to keep open the ducts when semen was released. The left one was erroneously believed to be heavier.
Hundreds of years have passed and we still don’t exactly why the testes aren’t side-by-side and symmetrical, but there are a few theories that touch on the mystery:
Temperature regulation. A French study found that the left and right testicles have different modes of thermal regulation. The left runs hotter than the right. They hang at different levels because they have separate arteries and veins that differ from each other in length, angle, and source. Sperm are temperature-sensitive, so having redundant semi-independent temperature regulation mechanisms may be beneficial. Researchers also speculate that twin testes, if snugly pressed against each other, would run too hot and thereby impair sperm production. More exposed surface area = cooler. Hanging at slightly different heights prevents them from crushing and overheating each other.
Handedness. Some studies have found that the left testicle hangs lower in right-handed men and the right testicle hangs lower in left-handed men. Handedness is linked to cerebral asymmetry, and there is some suggestion that testicle size and position are, too. Intriguingly, scientists are investigating whether cognitive performance can be predicted by the testes. According to a Canadian study, men with a larger right testicle performed better on spatial tasks than men with a larger left testicle. (Again, on most men, the left is smaller.)
Poor thing. The littler, lighter, lower-hanging left testicle has such a bad reputation that, according to the Urban Dictionary, it’s now slang for slacker.
Science of Love, Sex, and Babies 
I always thought that, since testes are very sensitive, one hangs lower than the other so they don’t “bang” into each other while the man walks or runs.
Why there is a preference for the left might have to do with your two hypotheses.
Nice post, but just a word of warning. When I was a teenager (quite a few years ago) I too noticed the asymmetry of my testicles and I too was told this was normal – as you correctly outlined. So I thought nothing more of the size differences in my testicles. But how much asymmetry in size is relative. It ended up my asymmetry in testicle size was not natural – one was cancerous. The degree of asymmetry grew and I should have been more aware. It was not until very late did I finally go see a doctor and found that I had advanced cancer.
So my word of warning is yes testicle size asymmetry is normal – but if pronounced maybe you want to have things checked out by your physician. Catching cancer early is obviously better than latter.
Thanks for your interesting post – even if it brings back bad memories 🙂
im 14, and my left testicle is larger. it really worries me because not only is it larger but it also has very thick veins. i dont have the guts to tell my dad (cuz its embarrassing). so how do i know if i have cancer? and how do people catch cancer?
there is nothing embarrassing about it. If what you see you can describe it as “sack of worms”, then maybe you have something called varicocele and you have to check it out. Either tell your father to take you to a doctor or you go straight away.
Cancer is not contagious. It just happens, could be family related. Anyhow, you have to go and check it at a Urologist or Pediatrician.
[…] little piece on testicular asymmetry. Apparently, it’s normal for one ball to be smaller and hang lower […]
My right one hangs lower, am I some kind of freak?
mine too. im trying to figure that out.
benjamin are you left handed.
cos in that artical above it says that men that are left handed usually have the right hanging lower
Well, he did say that 65% of men are like this. Maybe you’re part of the other 35%?
Benjamin,
Is your heart oriented more to the right-hand side of your chest cavity than to the left? In some males other organs may have the same bilateral asymmetry as the testicles. It is an interesting phenomenon and documented to the point that physicians use it as a diagnostic primer. I’ve seen the question asked on university medical school exams.
One hangs lower so they don’t smash against each other while walking. Otherwise men would be bo-legged just to keep from the pain. But all this goes into the fact that all of us are different on each side of our bodies.
Try this, take a picture and cover up the left side of the face and then switch sides. You will see to different faces.
just know bout it… never think bout tat before…
If they hung evenly when they were hit together they would crush each other. Since one is lower, one will override the other if they are mashed together.
I have always thought that they hang lower due to damage. like if they get hit the right one will still work and the left will get hit really hard but won’t work. (you’ll have one working ball rather than none.)
I always figured it was so my package could fit comfortably down the leg of my 501 jeans.
lol now i only have one testicle that hangs lowest!
Are you going to do a post on why the Vagina is shaped like a wallet?
Now that’s a life-changing information, uh!
Just think of it, if they were the same identical size and weight, one testis would crush the other, or if they hung too low, they my simply twist together. No Nobel prize for that, just common sense.
aaah, the wonders of the http://www.. now i know why testicles are asymetrical. this is exactly the kind of thing i wanna learn at 3am on a sunday night
m. @ http://umstrum.wordpress.com
lol i never really questioned that ever..!
thats because ur aisan and ur shit is so small u cant tell lol
Whilst naked, if you sit, primly, with your knees together, you will see one testicle ride up and over the other. If your testicles hung at the same length then there would be a calamitous crush like when two people try to go through the same door at the same.
oooooh that made me cringe
My wife assured me that I am a lower-lefty! LOL
Luckily, Someone is doing this research. I thought my tax dollars might be being wasted.
Tyler Dockery
http://www.dockerydesign.com
http://twitter.com/tyler_dockery
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Nice new information.
It’s not like they’re immobile, I’m guessing they would still “fall into place” regardless of what length they hang, there’s plenty of room. I’m liking the reproductive reason. It’s a pretty advanced thermostat, after all 🙂
I think it’s the handedness theory. In women since more are right handed, their right breast would be more muscular, therefore smaller, since the breast is mostly fat. That dominant side reason should also lie true for testies, since men have dominant legs too.
Of course I’ll have to check that theory later… as a left-handed athlete.
I suspect that, they have to be oriented in some manner or another. And, as your male body develops they crowd each other together and one falls into place below the other, usually the left one. I guess…
I Really Love Reading Your Blog. Excellent. Keep up the great work!
Great post. There are 1,000 guys at home right now.. with their pants around their ankles checking to see which one hangs lower.
i have been conducting my own private survey about this for years, just as a amussing way to start a conversation. It surprised me to see this. I had always theoriesd that the way the testes hung was attached to the handedness because in the womb the side develops first is stronger then the second side (i vaugely remember i was taught that is why some people are right or left handed) so that relates to the testes when; if you are right handed you right side will be stronger = tighter so the musels of your right testie will hold that one closer, and your muscles on the left side weaker = droopier it was reversed for left handed people. that was my conclusion of my privete study any one know any thing about ambedexterious people?
But what does it mean when one of them starts to larger than the other two?
From my understanding and education, I have been taught that this is actually a result of vascular differences. The testicular arteries and veins have different origins and drainage points. (Search for testicular vein images) As a result of these variances, the left testicular vein actually drains into a smaller (renal) vein where the right drains into a larger (inferior vena cava) vein. This will cause the pressure in the left vein to be greater as there is more resistance. Greater pressure and more blood cause the testicle to hang lower as a result. The scrotum also has the ability to contract/relax for temperature regulation which equally plays an important role in this height difference. As for a third reason, the shape of two spheres can be in closest proximity when they are offset just a little allowing the testes to occupy less space than if they were side by side. I hope this enlightens someone, and this is a great question that I am glad to finally have an answer to.
I dunno. With me it’s my third testicle that seems to be the largest.
…and don’t EVEN get me started on ears…
Thanks for the info, it took a lot of balls to write this.
nice post, interesting
now i don’t have to wonder why 😀
trackback on http://uzisero.blogspot.com/
Plus, it’s more aesthetically pleasing.
The larger ball hangs lower and the slightly smaller ball rests above the bigger one. It forms a graceful, linear line.
If you read the article, it said the lower one is the smaller one.
Slacker…lol…. I never heard that one
It’s all to do with the angle at which the earth spins.
[…] HERE to read Jena’s article and see the answers […]
As far as the speculation goes, what people seem to gloss over is that according to the first part of the article, approximately 35% of men have testicles that are on equal levels. There may be some self reporting bias here, so taking an even more conservative number, we can say that at least 25% have no asymmetry in testicular levels. An interesting study then would be to see if this is related to possible ambidexterity. Also, it would be interesting to see if there’s a correlation with sperm count and testicular dominance. One other thing to keep in mind as far as the speculation, if 25% of the population was the outlier, than they wouldn’t be as likely to reproduce and that trait would not have remained in human populations. Perhaps then, testicular asymmetry isn’t as correlative with dominance as this article maintains. As far as the temperature regulation hypothesis, this must also be tested among the left lower, right lower, and symmetric groups.
It means 35% of people have the right one hang lower.
the good thing about testicular cancer is you can only get it twice.
In my case, the left one does hang lower. But the right one is significantly smaller. All of which means nothing.
By the way, I am right handed.
i am a right-handed man, and my right testicle hangs lower and is smaller. and according to the above text. that is not possible. any comments or concerns?
how can you tell if one of your testicles is twisted becuase mine sometimes get flipped and stuff when i walk and i think they are back to normal but dont know
For a healthy male, it is quite common for the testicles to rise and fall in a complimentary fashion over a period of several seconds, even when symmetrical. So they are only at the same height when passing each other.
However there are natural causes of one hanging lower *consistently* as have been mentioned. There may be other reasons – mine used to be somewhat symmetrical until a hernia operation a few years back. Now one is consistently lower than the other by a significant amount. This is because the hernia repair altered the muscle tissue in the lower abdomen significantly. It is of no concern as everything seems to function normally.
Dont you hate it when one of your ball is sweaty and the other two are stuck to the side of your leg?
There is a scientific and anatomical explanation for it. It is due to the way the blood drains from the testes. The right testis drains directly to the Inferior Vena Cava, whereas the left testis drains into the renal vein at an angle.
If my memory serves me well, the angle causes blood drainage from the left testis to be less smooth, causing a difference in the blood flow. The difference in blood flow causes the differences in height of the testes.
My left is so smaller that the right one. and i sometimes feel pain. does it mean this normal?
friend if u hav dull pain or discomfort in one or both testis check it for varicocele with ur urology doctor..
hey forget what everybody else is talking about…when i have sex and ejaculate about 2 times my left ball hurts but the right one dosen’t…. why is that? i dont think god made us with one ball bigger than the other one….it’s got to be because of poor blood flow or something like that
Hey,
I need help as my right testicle is paining a little bit n its almost a month now and its hanging a bit lower than the left one.
Can anyone help me?
(Both are of same size, no mumps or any such thing)
I am 12 i hit puberty and my balls droped what i am trying to wonder is if my left ball that hangs lower and my right that is higher my left ball is small but my right is bigger and im right handed
thats the same with me it just your better on your right side of the body than the left
im right handed and my right is lower, is this bad?
hhahahahahaa
I’m 15, and my penis and balls are really hairy, uhm, it kind of bugs me and i would like to know how to safely shave them ?? i know it’s off topic, but i really want to have less hairy balls ?
I have left testicle down from right one and left one is have vein on down of testicle and right have on upper .its any problem.
When you noticed that your ball sac’s are different. Most first realized that are feet sizes are different and eventually learning that the left side of your whole body is larger then the right side. Most are asking a question, that they already know?
Is there any problem.. My left testies is hanging down as compared right one…
If they hang like that is there any prblm for sex after marrige
I noticed dis morning my left testacal was lower I thought it was serious but know I now it’s not
I never paid attention until i accidently stumbled on this article
It is because right handed guys stimulate the right side of their penis so the right testicle gets more stimulus. 🙂
Do left handed people have their right testicle lower?
[…] there are theories, the most prominent being that testicles are different sizes and lengths so that they don’t […]