Lou Answers:

Dear Marcus:

I applaud you looking for information as it is your responsibility to be an educated consumer for your sexual health. Peyronie's is a complex subject with no simple answer. I spoke to an MD anesthesiologist who has been involved in Peyronie's surgeries for over 20 years and my response will be guided by her observations and opinions.

I am sure you are aware that the etiology (its cause or origin) of Peyronie's is unknown and that it is an internal abnormal growth of connective tissue in the penis that causes the penis to become very curved often on one side and can make having an erection very painful and often impossible and that the curvature often prevents intercourse from occurring.

I am not sure how you can determine that yours has “run its course”. If the onset of Peyronie's occurred as a result of a trauma incident that damaged the penile tissue and you have had two years of healing then perhaps you can state it has run its course.

If you have Peyronie's of an unknown onset then surgery may further complicate the functionality of your penis. Why? Because with any surgery you are going to have scar tissue and who is to say that the scar tissue from the surgery will be normal and act differently from the irregularly growing scar tissue of your Peyronie's. Additionally there is a possibility of nerve damage as the penile tissue is cut. My M.D. friend has seen men end up with penises reduced in size due to the removal of the scar tissue.

Addressing your consideration of having a penile implant introduced to restore the shape and size of your penis. With any implant you further increase your possibility of infection and future complications if it needs to be removed. Result smaller penis with even more scar tissue.

Here were her comments to consider before looking at surgery.

“If it was me I'd massage my penis, I'd do physical therapy on it.  Why? Because scar tissue can be remolded. Peyronie's acts like an auto immune disorder so I would do this therapy in combination with finding an immunologist at an academic setting (university) who could do a review of a biopsy of my Peyronie's scar tissue on the cellular level via electron microscopy to see if they could identify why the collagen network is growing abnormally, perhaps there is a mineral deficiency at a particle level that could be addressed with nutrition or supplements.

Do you have any other autoimmune conditions? Chronic Pain Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, scleroderma, arthritis?

When you are making your list of professionals to see remember a Urologist is a surgeon and they make their money cutting into people, the same with Plastic Surgeons. The M.D.'s experience over 20 years is that men who have penile surgeries done with implants and for Peyronie's often get more and worse scar tissue.

My advice is to do your homework, be guided by what an M.D with 20 years of experience of observing these procedures; translation they had no vested interest in suggesting the surgery. I realize this is not an overly glowing response but I want to be as honest with you as I can and share my expert's comments.

Warmly