Peyronie's Disease Treatment

Options for Treating Peyronie’s Disease

Peyronie's disease is a very uncomfortable condition suffered by millions of men around the world. It is a condition that sometimes causes physical pain; it almost always causes emotional pain and discomfort. Fortunately, it's not something you necessarily have to live with. There are several different treatment options available from surgery to traction devices and even pharmaceutical products.

Before discussing the options, let's talk about what Peyronie's disease is and what causes it. In medical terms Peyronie's Disease is a condition in which scar tissue develops somewhere underneath the skin of the penis. This scar tissue interferes with normal erections and, more often than not, leads to malformations when the penis is in erect state. The malformations can take the shape of lumps, twists, or even curvature along the shaft of the penis.

What causes this scar tissue to grow is still being debated. Possibilities include:

• Trauma or injury to the penis
• An underlying autoimmune disorder
• Genetic or hereditary factors

Symptoms of Peyronie's disease can include moderate to severe pain, curvature of the penis, an inability to maintain erections, and even a decrease in penis size. Note that not all men suffering from the condition exhibit all of the symptoms. In some rare cases, men can suffer from Peyronie's without ever experiencing any of the symptoms. These types of men can still be diagnosed because scar tissue can be felt using the fingers. The scar tissue feels like a hard lump or an extremely rigid rubber band around the shaft of the penis.

Peyronie's Treatment Options

Though the medical community still does not agree on what causes Peyronie's disease, they do agree on treatment methods. If you're suffering from Peyronie's never forget the choice of treatment options is entirely up to you. Take the time to understand each one so you can make an informed decision. The treatment information below comes from sources including the Mayo Clinic, WebMD, and others.

• Surgery
  Although surgery is generally left as an option of last resort we'll discuss it first since that's what most men consider to be the best option. There are three primary surgical methods most doctors choose from: lengthening the short side, shortening the long side, and using penile implants. The lengthening procedure involves cutting the scar tissue to allow the penis to straighten back out. Then a graft using human tissue, animal tissue, or a synthetic product is sewn into place to cover the hole left by the incision. The shortening procedure simply removes tissue from the side of the penis unaffected by scarring.
• Implants
  The implant procedure is significantly different than the other two. It is also the most risky. It involves cutting the scar tissue to allow the penis to straighten out, then removing some of the spongy tissue of the penis and replacing it with flexible implants. These flexible implants are semi rigid so that they hang downward in flaccid state and pull upward in erect state. In more severe cases implants can be connected to a pump surgically implanted in the groin. The pump allows for a full erection which otherwise may not be possible due to the amount of spongy tissue the surgery removed.
• Medications
  There are a handful of medications, some oral and some injectable, that are used to treat Peyronie's disease. The principle behind these medications is to disrupt the production of scar tissue while breaking down what already exists. Unfortunately, the results achieved by these medications are not very promising. Investigation is ongoing to try to come up with better pharmaceutical products for Peyronie's disease.
• Penile Traction (Penis Extenders)
  Penile traction is something commonly used by man to add size to the penis. As it turns out, the traction principle is also helpful in many men who want to overcome Peyronie's disease. The principal of traction is to apply a steady but gentle pulling motion on the tissue of the penis, thereby causing microscopic tears and encouraging new tissue production. Many Peyronie's sufferers benefit from traction because it encourages natural tissue growth that compensates for the scar tissue on the other side.