Can Cockroaches Live in Your Penis? Do You Really Want the Answer?

Key Points

• Can cockroaches or other bugs and insects live in your penis? That question gets asked more than you may think.
• The answer to the cockroach question is a firm no. That doesn't mean the answers to the other questions are the same, unfortunately.
• The cases are few and far between, but there are some horror stories regarding insects and male genitalia.

When you're talking about the various parts of the penis and how they work, one word that doesn't come up all that often is "insects."

Thank goodness.

A cursory internet search, though, reveals that some people have been thinking about bugs and dicks an awful lot. We'll look at a couple of the crazier insect-related penis stories that have gone viral, as well as some other examples of guys with buggy dicks.

Can maggots live in your penis?

Lesions and sores on your penis are far more likely to be caused by any one of a hundred more mundane penile conditions than an insect invasion. If you have any discomfort or soreness that doesn't go away after a couple of days, though, don't hesitate to seek medical attention.

"The presence of a persistent genital lesion, especially on the head or shaft of the penis, should be promptly evaluated by a healthcare provider," said Amy Pearlman, M.D., a men's health specialist and co-founder of Prime Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "Such lesions could be indicative of a sexually transmitted infection (STI) or even penile cancer. Failure to address STIs like condyloma or penile cancer in a timely manner can result in the condition worsening, potentially requiring extensive surgical intervention."

Penile myiasis

That said, while it's exceedingly rare and only occurs in particular parts of the world, certain species of fly larvae can infest your penis.

Yes, skin maggots.

In the skin. Of the penis.

It's what happened to a Brazilian farm worker who became the subject of a viral meme when he reported to a medical clinic with a nodule on his penis head. He'd lived with the sore for about a month, but once it opened up and began exuding bloody discharge, he finally sought help.

His diagnosis was penile myiasis, or infestation of botfly larvae living under the skin. Adult flies lay their eggs on leaves or the thorax of a mosquito or other biting insect that can then transfer them to a person via a bite.

We just have to let the case report speak for itself:

"Through the orifice, it was possible to observe a larva moving around inside the lesional cavity," the 2004 report read.

As horrific as that sounds, doctors removed the larva, cleansed the cavity and infused it with antibiotics, and dosed the man with oral antibiotics and a tetanus shot. After a couple of weeks, he appeared to heal just fine.

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Is it true a fly was caught in someone's foreskin?

A 2008 case involved a man in the United Kingdom who had suffered numerous fly bites while traveling to Belize. For six weeks, he tried to ignore the nodule that appeared on the side of his penis just behind the head—even though it was exuding yellowish fluid from a small opening.

After it was determined it was likely a larva, the man was instructed to cover the hole with Vaseline to cut off the larva's air supply and force it to exit on its own. Again, the words from the report speak for themselves:

"This maneuver was attempted by our patient prior to excision, inducing considerable wriggling of the larva, which subsequently peeped out through the hole to investigate," the report read.

The providers eventually had to make an incision to remove the larva.

Can cockroaches live in your penis?

The two cases described above were caused by bites that transferred the eggs of particular species of tropical and subtropical flies.

The question of whether or not cockroaches can live in your penis was raised in a 2022 viral meme—and the answer is a firm no.

On occasion, people have reported a cockroach crawling into their ear or nose, but human bodies are not ideal for roach life, and these bugs don't usually hang out for long. Cockroaches cannot live inside of a penis, and there's no credible evidence this has ever occurred.

The pranksters behind that meme presented a heavily manipulated image as though it were a true medical incident. It was quickly debunked as fake, but not before freaking out men around the world.

That may be the key takeaway: Healthcare providers usually support people researching medical conditions on their own, but you should put some research into your sources.

"If you're looking for information online, you first want to see if it's a healthcare provider or just someone who claims to be a healthcare provider," said Justin Dubin, M.D., a urologist and men's health specialist with Memorial Healthcare System in Miami. "Anyone can claim they're a doctor; you just go on TikTok and put on a white coat.

"The other thing is that there are a lot of really good resources online for a lot of different topics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has good information, and the American Urological Association (AUA) has the Urology Care Foundation, which has excellent information on a lot of men's health topics."

Has anyone ever had sandworms on their penis?

If the word "sandworm" conjures images of Timothy Chalamet in the movie "Dune," you're not alone. And there is a parasite that's colloquially known as a sandworm in parts of the southern United States.

Their larvae can invade the skin and cause skin eruptions that resemble trails left by worms crawling under the skin. People get them when they step or sit on areas where larvae have been left.

The larvae come from the hookworm family and typically live in sandy soil where they've been deposited in dog, cat or wild animal feces—hence, other names for it, such as duck hunter's itch or ground itch.

One unlucky man contracted a sandworm, medically known as cutaneous larva migrans (CLM)—literally, "wandering larvae in the skin"—in his penis, according to a 2003 report.

An agricultural worker presented with itchy lesions on his penis that extended from the tip of his foreskin and crept down the shaft over several days in what providers called a linear serpentine lesion.

Luckily, a simple oral antiparasitic stopped the progress of the larvae, and within seven days, it was gone entirely.

The bottom line

While wild tales of evil bugs seeking food and water sources in unsuspecting men's penises are always great fodder for social media clicks, penis irritation is far more likely to be caused by more pedestrian conditions, such as STIs, poor hygienic practices or simple chafing.

Any lesion, sore or irritation on your penis that lasts more than a couple of days warrants a visit to your healthcare provider for evaluation.

When it comes to bugs in your dick—or anything else—it's better to be safe than sorry.