My Penis is Curved
How to straighten a penis
What a shock when you realize, “My penis is curved. How did that happen, and what is going on down there? And the most important question to Google, How to straighten my penis?”
While there are several other causes of a curved penis to suddenly happen, the most common one, and the most difficult one to deal with is Peyronie’s disease. Peyronie’s disease is a condition that occurs in about 6-10% of men over the age of 40 (although it can affect teenagers and men in their early 20s) in which a dense and thick mass of fibrous tissue, called a Peyronie’s plaque or scar, is found within the tunica albuginea layer on the inside of the penis. The presence of a nodule or band of fibrous tissue under the skin of the penis will prevent the normal expansion of the chambers of the penis during an erection. This causes the erection to be distorted resulting in a curve, bend, hinge, hourglass or bottleneck distortion.
To assist you to determine if you have PD, please visit Peyronie’s symptoms and check out some of the Peyronie’s pictures of curved penis. It is necessary for anyone who thinks he might have Peyronie’s disease to go to his doctor to have a complete examination so an accurate diagnosis can be made. Do not make the mistake to think you can self-diagnose this problem.
It is important to remember that the problem of Peyronie’s disease is not that you have a curved penis. The problem is actually the Peyronie’s scar that is present within the deep tissue of the tunica albuginea causing incomplete filling of the penile chambers, resulting in the curved penis that got your attention. For this reason any treatment that is directed solely at trying to make the penis straight without removing or eliminating the PD plaque will not be successful.
While the Peyronie’s Disease Institute does not take a position against Peyronie’s surgery, we feel too many men resort to penis surgery far too soon before trying conservative treatment. If a man knows he has Peyronie’s disease he should also know the problem is that his body produced excessive scar tissue or plaque in response to a small injury or inflammation of the deep penile tissue layer. What does he assume will happen to that same tissue when a surgeon cuts that same tissue and also tugs on it, stretches it, and put stitches into it during the course of Peyronie’s surgery? There is a very good chance that more excessive scar tissue will result. This is why many urologists and surgeons take a position against all Peyronie’s surgery.
Since 2002 the Peyronie’s Disease Institute has educated men about the use of Alternative Medicine to assist the body to heal the Peyronie’s plaque. Fifty percent of men naturally recover from Peyronie’s disease without any help or outside intervention; the problem just goes away on its own like any other health problem should. Our approach is to assist each man to enable his body to heal naturally like those in that lucky 50% group.
So if you are one of us who has said in shock, “My penis is curved,” you now know what to do about it. Learn more about Peyronie’s disease treatment with Alternative Medicine. Another good source of information is the Peyronie’s Disease Handbook.
Potaba and Peyronie’s Disease Treatment
Potaba for Peyronie’s treatment based on PABA, a vitamin
PABA, or para-aminobenzoic acid, with a formula of H2NC6H4CO2H, is a white crystalline substance that is slightly water soluble. POTABA is simply PABA with a molecule of potassium added to it.
PABA has been referred to as Vitamin Bx because it is an intermediate step in the bacterial manufacturing of folate or folic acid in the intestinal tract. Some bacteria in the human intestinal tract, such as E. coli, require PABA for proper metabolism. Humans require folate since we lack the enzymes to convert PABA to folate, hence it is made available via the bacterial flora. Sulfonamide drugs are similar to PABA in their chemical structure, and their antibacterial activity is due to their ability to interfere with the conversion of PABA to folate by the enzyme dihydropteroate synthetase. In this way bacterial growth is restricted through folate deficiency without effect on human cells.
Medical use of Potaba (potassium para-aminobenzoate)
Potaba inhibits abnormal fibroblast proliferation, thus it can reduce formation of scar material early after injury. It is speculated that this POTABA anti-inflammatory activity is dependent on initial biotransformation that starts with granulocytes that are stimulated through the initial injury. It also inhibits abnormal fibroblast proliferation, acid mucopolysaccharide and glycosaminoglycan secretion that occur during the normal inflammatory process.
POTABA has been used to treat a variety of conditions characterized by chronic inflammation and fibrosis; this list includes scleroderma, dermatomyositis, morphea, pulmonary fibrosis and Peyronie’s disease.
A POTABA research study was conducted by Carson who retrospectively reviewed 32 patients who were treated with 4,000 Mg of Potaba three times daily, for at least three months and later were followed for an average of 14.4 months. Carson reported reduction of penile pain in 44% of those studied, plaque or scar size reduction in 56%, and improvement of penile angulation in 58%. Complete reversal of penile distortion and angulation occurred in 26% of those studied. The average interval to improvement was 4.2 months, and younger patients with a shorter duration of disease were more likely to respond to therapy. Even thought Carson’s study did not have controls, it suggests a possible role for POTABA in the medical therapy of Peyronie’s disease.
Unfortunately, the results of Carson’s retrospective and uncontrolled research were not reported as an intent-to-treat study. Further, the number of research subjects who started therapy but stopped because of severe abdominal symptoms prior to three months has never been disclosed.
Because of the expense of POTABA, the need to take POTABA three or more times daily, and frequent occurrence of severe gastrointestinal side-effects (burning pain, abdominal cramping, and bowel irritability0, make it very difficult for the average man with Peyronie’s disease to follow the treatment guidelines for even a short time. Yet in order to be effective, the length of POTABA therapy is variable, but sometimes lasting 12-24 months of active care.
Medical use of PABA
When a single potassium molecule is added to PABA, it results in what is called a potassium salt; this combination of potassium and PABA is called POTABA. It is used as a drug against fibrotic skin disorders, and as such it can be used in Peyronie’s disease treatment. PABA is also occasionally used to treat Irritable bowel syndrome to and related gastrointestinal symptoms, and in nutritional epidemiological studies to assess the completeness of 24-hour urine collection for the determination of urinary sodium, potassium, or nitrogen levels.
Despite the absence of any recognized syndromes of PABA deficiency in humans, many benefits are claimed for PABA as a nutritional supplement. PABA is said to improve fatigue, irritability, depression, weeping eczema (moist eczema), scleroderma (premature hardening of skin), a patchy pigment loss in skin called vitiligo, and premature gray hair.
Peyronie’s disease: POTABA or PABA?
The first Peyronie’s treatment work involved PABA, the vitamin. When this was shown to be successful, work was then done to show that POTABA, the drug, could be more successful. The interest is working with POTABA – the drug – was greater than with PABA – the vitamin – because the drug is more profitable and is easier to control use and distribution through the medical profession.
The reason PDI promotes the use of PABA for Peyronie’s disease treatment is because it has almost no side effects, is much less expensive to use, does not require a prescription and it combines well with other Alternative Medicine therapies.
For more information about the many ways to use Alternative Medicine to promote tissue repair and reversal of penile curvature, go to Peyronie’s Disease Institute.
Diagnosis of Peyronie’s Disease
A poor welcome to the world of Peyronie’s disease
It seems that most men cannot clearly or fully understand the scope of the problem when they are first given a diagnosis of Peyronie’s disease.
Obviously, when a man goes to the doctor for the first time it is because he is having a problem of some type with “his plumbing.” It might be the sudden or gradual appearance of pain, a lump or nodule, curved penis or distortion of some type, or reduced sexual ability, that brings him to see his doctor or surf the Internet. While he knows he is having a few Peyronie’s disease symptoms that were not there until recently, he is surprised to learn there is actually a medical condition that causes his problem.
After being given the diagnosis, a common first mental question often is, “If there is this problem that can so cruelly affect a man, why on earth have I never heard of Peyronie’s disease before today?
It has been recently estimated that after the age of 40, there are about four to six cases of Peyronie’s disease for every 100 men around the world. That is a lot of men and a lot of cases of Peyronie’s disease. For such a common condition, why is it that no one seems to know about PD until it is too late?
There are a few answers to this question, and they are all important to any man dealing with Peyronie’s disease:
- No one likes to admit he has a problem, or is less than perfect, when it comes to his sexual apparatus and his sexual ability.
- No one wants to the subject of teasing or to be pitied.
- There is often such social restriction limiting discussion of sexual matters that prevents open and free information that limits the discussion of Peyronie’s disease or similar topics.
This is indeed unfortunate because if there was more knowledge of Peyronie’s disease there probably would be less of it. Additionally, if there was more knowledge and comfort discussing this problem we would probably be a lot closer to a genuine Peyronie’s treatment than we are now.
If more young men were given more information, such as how trauma is associated with the start of Peyronie’s disease in over half of the cases, it is more likely that reasonable caution and defensive measures would be taken. It is very difficult to avoid a problem if you do not know it exists. This is why in “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook” I spend a fair amount of time describing how men should talk to their sons about this problem.
To learn more about Peyronie’s disease, please go to the Peyronie’s Disease Institute website for information about cause, progression and Peyronie’s natural treatment.
Peyronie’s Cure is Where You Find It
Looking at Peyronie’s treatment differently
While it is generally agreed there is no such thing as a Peyronies cure, PDI has shown since 2002 that it is certainly possible to reverse the curved penis of Peyronie’s disease with Alternative Medicine when it is done in the correct way. This concept is so different than what is promoted on the internet it could be called a new Peyronie’s treatment methodology.
Peyronie’s disease is primarily concerned with the dreaded fibrous Peyronie’s plaque or internal scar material that can cause a variable degree of penile curvature, pain, sex problems, and reduced penis size. Any true Peyronie’s treatment must address the issue of the fibrous scar. Yet, when men are first diagnosed by a medical doctor they are told there is no known cause of Peyronies disease and no Peyronie’s cure.
Just because the medical profession does not have a drug as a standard Peyronie’s disease treatment, they have assumed the position there is no such thing as a Peyronie’s cure. For this reason MDs do not like to treat Peyronie’s disease. The average medical doctor, even a urologist, has few options for anyone with PD, other than Peyronie’s disease surgery – which often has poor results.
Peyronie’s disease treatment
The current accepted Peyronie’s disease treatment in a medical office is to do nothing for the first one or two years, while waiting for the Peyronie’s problem to either get better or worse on its own. This is the wait-and-see approach to Peyronie’s treatment is frustrating and irritating to any man who wakes up one morning with the curved penis of Peyronies.
While the medical establishment maintains there is no effective Peyronie’s disease treatment, the Peyronie’s Disease Institute has worked since 2002 using Alternative Medicine in a unique way that proves this is not true. There is a simple and direct method to for Peyronie’s disease treatment that is either misunderstood or overlooked by the medical profession. Those who follow the Peyronie’s Disease Institute treatment concepts sometimes even call it a Peyronie’s cure.
Daily I communicate with angry and defeated men who get no help from the medical profession, who are neglected and given no hope or information to help themselves with their Peyronie’s problem. Men speak of feeling like Peyronie’s orphans.
One of the basic questions of Peyronie’s disease treatment is this: “If my medical doctor says there is nothing that can be done for me, other than surgery, what does that really mean to me? For those who are comfortable with thinking independently, they must decide if there are options outside of medicine that the neighborhood MD does not know about, or even care about.
Natural treatment for Peyronie’s disease
The Peyronie’s Disease Institute was started in 2002 by Dr. Theodore Herazy after he successfully cured his own severe PD with Alternative Medicine. His early experiments with herbs, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other safe natural remedies showed exciting promise for Peyronies help. Over the years he has guided and counseled hundreds of men each year through the treatment maze toward elimination of the scar and distortion of a Peyronie’s penis. It is not always an easy assignment, and when it is done incorrectly or without needed gusto it falls short of the desired outcome. But when a man uses all of the tools available to him in a faithful and aggressive manner, the results can be dramatic and prompt. It is estimated that about 80% of men with Peyronie’s disease who follow a large plan according to the outline provided on the PDI website, see from moderate to great success in reduction of penile curvature and elimination of the Peyronie’s plaque material.
Even though the medical profession says it can’t be done – it happens anyway because the body knows how to heal itself. Using the Peyronie’s Disease Institute concepts, you will be able to assist and stimulate that natural healing response that some people call a Peyronie’s cure.
Peyronie’s Disease Treatment and Vitamin E
Peyronie’s Vitamin E Dosage
The usual Peyronie’s disease vitamin E dosage advice from a medical doctor will be to “take no more than 400 IU of vitamin E a day.” Sometimes this number will be doubled to 800 IU daily by some doctors who are more aggressive with their recommendation. All of this is of valuable interest because vitamin E is the most commonly recommended non-drug Peyronie’s disease treatment, and very often it is the only non-drug Peyronie’s disease treatment that will be discussed.
Since vitamin E is available in both a synthetic form and a naturally occurring organic form, which form you use determines how much you can safely take. Eight different members of the vitamin E family, four known as tocopherols and four known as tocotrienols, make up the vitamin E family. A balanced diet – very difficult to achieve these days – contains all eight members of the vitamin E group. The most widely found member is known as gamma tocopherol, which works to eliminate nitrogen free radicals and is a very effective anti-inflammatory agent. Tocotrienols are primarily found in the skin and subdermis where they protect against UV and free radical damage.
Most vitamin E supplements contain only alpha tocopherol because it was thought that only this single part of the family of eight is the most important for Peyronies disease treatment. In fact, most vitamin E skin products contain a small amount of synthetic dl-alpha-tocopheryl acetate. This means that they contain only one of the eight members of the vitamin E family in the less effective synthetic form. Only products which supply the complete vitamin E family and are particularly rich in gamma tocopherol and tocotrienols in their natural and unesterified form contribute to accelerated wound healing and minimized scarring. This is why PDI is most insistent on men using a vitamin E therapy that is heavily slanted toward gamma tocopherol and all the tocotrienols.
Peyronie’s and vitamin E controversy
Concern about vitamin E safety during the past decade or so has been due solely to bad publicity in this area, which is based on perpetuation of questionable research and misunderstanding about vitamins. Faulty research reporting and misinterpretation of findings are the same two reasons for the condemnation of vitamin E supplementation.
First, vitamin E confusion arises from a medical reporting that ignores details of a particular vitamin E study reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The problem is gross generalization or not understanding the vitamin E research study.
The Annals of Internal Medicine vitamin E report is presented in http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/0000605-200501040-00110v1 Review this information to verify what I report is accurate:
- Those who took part in this vitamin E research often combined vitamin E with various drugs while they were being studied. All potential and actual adverse drug reactions to these different drug combinations were not factored in or considered anywhere in the study results.
- All study participants were elderly people, already being treated for a variety of chronic diseases. The researchers report this as a strong complicating issue, and puts suspicion on all conclusions because these elderly and sick people are far more likely to be taking high doses of vitamin E. They readily admit it is inaccurate to generalize these findings of this group to a healthy, normal, average or younger age group population.
- This study contained too many variables. It evaluated many different research studies, all of them used different procedures and protocols such as different vitamin E dosages administered for a widely variable amount of time. They admit they evaluated and combined data from sources that originated and were collected in different ways; they went beyond comparing apples and oranges, they compared grapes and bowling balls.
- None of the studies reported took the time to report or differentiate chemical immense differences of natural and synthetic vitamin E.
- Within the scientific community the findings of the original research has been questioned and criticized.
Vitamin E safety
The Annals of Internal Medicine report states vitamin E has a relative risk of 1.05. A relative risk of 1.0 is actually a neutral finding. This 1.05 risk level is not clinically significant to establish an association between a fatal dose or use high dose vitamin like vitamin E. Consider that water might have a relative risk of 1.05 in certain situations.
Before taking higher doses of vitamin E for therapeutic benefit, consult a health professional first. Discuss your health concerns, possible vitamin E side effects, and what dosage of vitamin E might be best for you. Vitamin E may be deficient in some diets, especially very low fat diets. Most nutrition experts agree that taking vitamin E supplements is safe.
Vitamin E study limitations and problems
Here is a summary of this study presented by those who conducted this study:
The evaluation of high-dosage vitamin E trials in which more than 400 IU of vitamin E was used was often too small to establish accuracy of findings. This study should not have included elderly patients with one or more chronic diseases, yet they were the primary participants. It is not clear how to generalize the findings of this study conducted on ill and elderly people to a population of healthy adults. It is also not clear how to determine the exact dosage at which someone might be at risk of taking too much vitamin E based on this study using ill and elderly people.
In spite of these large obvious flaws and limitations, the conclusion of this study is that any dosage at or above 400 IU daily of vitamin E may increase mortality and should be avoided.
Secondly, misunderstanding and confusion exists over the many subtle differences between natural and synthetic vitamin E. The ultimate error is that natural and synthetic vitamin E will chemically react the same, and that is not true.
Problem #2 – Natural or Synthetic Vitamin E
Natural vitamin E is d-alpha-tocopherol, and synthetic vitamin E is dl-alpha-tocopheryl. Since the names of the chemicals are different you know the chemicals are different. As the chemicals are different, their reaction is also different in the body.
The Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients reports, “Natural vitamin E supplements outperform synthetic forms, according to a VERIS Research Summary. Results of recent studies suggest that natural vitamin E is more bioavailable and is retained in body tissues significantly longer than synthetic vitamin E. These studies show that previously accepted differences were underestimated and that the bioavailability of natural vitamin E is about twice that of synthetic vitamin E compounds.”
Vegetable oil, specifically soybean oil, is the primary source of naturally occurring vitamin E. However, synthetic vitamin E is manufactured from petroleum chemicals (yes, the same oil that comes out of the ground, used to make tar, motor oil and gasoline, often linked with cancer).
Doctors are very comfortable and familiar with prescribing synthetic chemicals. For this reason they are not hesitant to prescribe a synthetic vitamin. But, the primary difference scientists use to determine toxicity and function within the body is the molecular structure of a compound.
When taking levels of “vitamin E” above 400IU is found to be unsafe, it is because the vitamin E is synthetic and not tolerated well. All biomedical testing proves that within the human structure there is a strong chemical discrimination or preference between natural and synthetic vitamin E.
“Our studies suggest without question that natural vitamin E delivers at least twice the impact as synthetic E,” said Robert Acuff, PhD, Professor and Director, Center for Nutrition Research at East Tennessee State University. He concludes it is the natural form of vitamin E is obviously the one human tissue was designed to use. Margaret Traber, Associate Professor at the Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University, seems to discriminate between the two forms of vitamin E, reporting that the human body will retain the natural organic form of vitamin E, while rapidly eliminating the synthetic form in the urine and bowel.
It is my opinion that the human organism will tolerate much higher doses of natural vitamin E – provided by Peyronie’s Disease Institute and the Natural Complementary Medicine LLC website – and can tolerate much less synthetic vitamin E available found in lower cost and lower quality products. For this reason PDI only uses organic and natural vitamin E for use in Peyronie’s disease treatment plans. Using the kind of vitamin E we have available, many men use levels in the 800IU-1,200IU range while attempting to reduce their Peyronies plaque or scar.
For additional information go to the PDI website at vitamin E.
Peyronie’s Disease Surgery
Surgical Peyronie’s treatment has many limitations
The Peyronie’s Disease Institute is not against Peyronie’s disease surgery.
The Peyronie’s Disease Institute is against the abuse of surgical treatment of Peyronie’s disease. Considerable surgical risk exists for any man with PD who has an operation to attempt correction of penile distortion. Adverse outcomes and worsening of the original problem are associated with even a small incision (or injection) made to a penis that already has demonstrated the tendency to create excess Peyronie’s scar formation.
The overuse and abuse of Peyronie’s surgery should be suspected when the treating doctor does not follow reasonable and conservative guidelines to consider a patient a surgical candidate. A good surgeon will know that a man with Peyronie’s disease should fulfill these basic points before suggesting surgery:
- Severity, the most important indicator. The deformity must be severe enough to seriously interfere or stop sexual intercourse.
- Adequate time for healing and spontaneous recovery must be given. Usually thought to be from 12-18 months from the time of onset of PD.
- Non-responsive to a fair trial of medical therapy. In practice, many doctors attempt only one form of medical treatment. When that fails the patient is told surgery is the only other option. It appears that doctors know the poor results achieved by medication to make a difference with Peyronie’s disease that they are quick to want to skip this step and proceed to the operating room. When vitamin E is offered as a therapy option, it is done so reluctantly and with little hope for success. Further, no instruction is offered for the correct use of vitamin E, or information about the eight different members of the vitamin E family. Since no real help is offered to assure that the patient will use vitamin E correctly, it is no wonder that so many men fail. There is a large body of information available that can assure a man is more successful with vitamin E therapy for his Peyronie’s disease. Using the correct type of vitamin E, and using it correctly in conjunction with other forms of therapy that work synergistically with it, would only increase the chance of success.
- Stable and unchanging scar. This can mean changing for the better or worse. Since so few doctors, and the men with PD, even locate the PD scar, it is doubtful that this criteria is seriously considered.
Risks of Peyronie’s surgery
Surgery is not a Peyronie’s cure. Because of the unique anatomy and physiology of the penis, the risks of surgery to this area are a little different than other tissues.
- Additional scar formation and possible worsening of PD. Because any man attempting a surgical correction of PD who already has massive scarring, must expect more scarring to develop as a result of that surgery. It is a known fact – seldom discussed with a PD patient before surgery – that surgery for PD will result in more PD, sooner or later.
- Loss of penis size. Extensive scar tissue that is severe and persistent enough to cause a deformity serious enough to justify Peyronies surgery, represents a large mass of internal scar tissue. Surgery will remove a large and irreplaceable loss of connective tissue and loss of elasticity of the tissue that is not removed. If it is not bad enough that surgical correction and return of sexual function cannot be guaranteed because of the possibility of complications, every surgical candidate must understand that there will always be a loss of length and diameter of the penis. Many men tell me that this secondary consequential loss of penis size is hardly discussed before surgery. Most men learn about the loss of penis size after it is too late.
- Incomplete straightening, no change, or worsening of the original PD deformity. Loss of elasticity, additional scarring, and damage to the veins of the penis that can occur as a result of surgery, can also reduce or prevent correction of the original PD problem.
- Loss of sensation. Due to anatomical location of important sensory nerves of the penis, PD surgery can slightly, or greatly, or totally, reduce skin sensation and pleasure associated with sexual activity. Temporary reduction of sensation is very common, and permanent sensory loss is less common.
- Loss of erection strength. Surgery cannot help but alter both the inflow and/or outflow of blood to the penis. By disturbing the pneumatic mechanism that creates an erection it is not uncommon for men to report either loss of erectile rigidity (hardness) or inability to maintain an erection (impotence) – and sometimes both.
If a surgeon has been attempting you to undergo PD correction surgery, and you were told the surgical outcomes are “good,” I strongly suggest you get a very clear and detailed explanation for what the surgeon means by “good.” You might think “good” means that you will be perfect again, that your PD will be gone, that you will feel like a teenager. The surgeon might be thinking that “good” means only a one or two inch loss of length, only a 50% chance of loss of penile rigidity, only a 50% loss of skin sensation, and restoring your curve from 90 degrees to only 30 or 40 degrees. It is not an easy thing to determine how to straighten a curved penis.
If your surgeon tells you these things are not true, and that surgical results are “excellent” you might want to ask him what he means by excellent. If he says you are worrying too much about such a safe and simple operation, ask the surgeon to put that in writing. Ask the surgeon to guarantee that the surgery will not result in impotence, loss of skin sensation, that you will have a completely straight penis, and that your Peyronie’s penis will never return. You will not get that guarantee because no one can say what will happen to you as a result of PD surgery.
What is good for the surgeon might not be good for the man with Peyronie’s disease.
Peyronie’s treatment sensations
Strange reaction to Peyronies therapy
Every now and then I get a question about the variety of unusual sensations and reactions that men notice during Peyronie’s treatment, or immediately after, a particular therapy used in Peyronies treatment. These are the Peyronie’s disease therapies most often associated with this kind of response:
- Genesen Acutouch Pointers
- Manual stretching method found on the CD
- DMSO PMD formula
- Super CP Serum copper peptide ointment
Most often the sensation is described as a “tingling” or “aching” or “electrical” sensation in or near the area of treatment. It can be felt during or within the hour any of these therapies are applied. The intensity can be variable from time to time it is felt; sometimes very mild and hardly noticeable, and at other times enough to wake a person from a sound sleep. Sometimes the response occurs each time the treatment is done, and for other men the reaction occurs every now and then at irregular times.
If you experience this kind of reaction in the area of your Peyronie’s scar, do not become alarmed. It is common and usually signals some good response to your Peyronie’s treatment as changes are occurring in the condition of the scar.
This is not something that has been studied much in the scientific literature since those researchers prescribing drugs or standard medical procedures for PD do not get the kind of reactions and responses that occur while following the Peyronie’s Disease Institute therapy principles. They do not report this kind of reaction because they do not make the kind of rapid changes that are seen in men using the PDI protocols.
Therefore, there is no research that has been done to explain this phenomenon. It is my theory that these reactions are due to the rapid changes that take place in the tissue in and around the scar material. During or after a particular Peyronie’s treatment a change may occur in the tension and length of the otherwise contracted scar material of the penis. These alterations of tension and position of the tissue layers could easily explain the unusual sensations that occur. I find from my own treatment experience, and that of other men who have had improvement in their Peyronie’s disease, that these “moving” or “tingling” or “aching” sensations appear when the scar is undergoing some level of change (improvement). Many men come to count on the appearance of these changes to herald improvement of their scars from time to time.
It is most probably NOT just one therapy or just the one product causing this usual sensation. It is closer to the truth to say that these sensations are the sum total of all the synergistic efforts that are included in your therapy plan. The problem (a good problem) with using so many of these therapies together is that you will never be able to accurately say which one did the most or least for you. A synergistic Alternative Medicine therapy plan is a group effort, with all therapies making some contribution to whatever happens to you.
Please email your questions about Peyronie’s disease treatment to this blog.
Curved Penis and Peyronie’s Disease
Peyronies bent penis is focus of problem
While the primary interest of Peyronie’s disease treatment is the internal scar tissue or fibrous plaque material that causes the distortion or curved penis to develop, it is not the primary interest of the man who has PD. For him, the most important aspect of Peyronie’s disease is the curved penis that plagues him. For this reason Peyronies is also known as the “bent nail disease.”
For those interested in viewing graphic pictures, click curved penis of Peyronie’s disease.
Peyronie’s disease causes a curved penis when the fibrous tissue of the Peyronie scar or plaque pulls unevenly or causes incomplete filling within the erect penis. This can vary in degree or severity from man to man. For this reason the curved penis does not indicate the severity of the Peyronies problem or success of Peyronies disease treatment. The true success of Peyronies treatment is based on the change that occurs in the Peyronies plaque or scar. Once the fibrous scar changes, eventual improvement in the curved penis can be expected in time.
The internal tissue of the healthy penis is flexible and expandable. This normal tissue is able to allow for a normal erection to develop when blood is trapped inside the organ.
In Peyronie’s disease some of the tissue is not healthy or flexible and elastic. Specifically, the deep tissue known as the tunica albuginea is not elastic because it replaced by dense and inelastic fibrous tissue that is called a scar or plaque. As an erection develops the elastic tissue of the tunica albuginea must stretch and expand evenly on both sides, left and fright, and top and bottom, of the penis. If this cannot happen because an area of the penis is no longer flexible and expandable, then a curved penis results.
Peyronie’s disease usually begins with a small nodule or bump that is found on the top or sides of the penis, just immediately below the surface. A few weeks to several months to a year later, a small fibrous nodule can expand into a larger irregular scar of variable size, shape, density and surface quality. These scars can be as long as the penis. Some appear like a collar to go around the shaft. Some are one large mass, while others appear to be like small isolated islands of fibrous tissue in many areas. Scars can be so soft or small, with edges so tapered and vague that no scar can be found. In a case of Peyronie’s disease when no scar or plaque can be found, it is still assumed to exist when a curved penis develops during erection. .
Normally curved penis
Most men have a straight erection, but some are born with a penis that curves or bends (usually upward). Just as fingers on the hand or a nose can display a natural bend, or arms can be of different length on the same person, the penis can be bent without the presence of Peyronies. Typically, the normally curved penis follows a more gradual and arched design, more like a banana. In Peyronie’s disease the curved penis is more localized and abrupt, like an angulated bend.
When the two primary chambers (corpora cavernosa) of the penis are a different diameter or length, the penis will bend when erect. The penis will appear straight when flaccid, and on erection it will bend.
This slight penile distortion will not be associated with pain, there will be no trauma in the history, and it will not appear suddenly as does the curved penis of Peyronie’s disease.
Curved penis affects sexual intercourse
It is estimated that 75-90% of Peyronie’s disease couples will sooner or later experience a sexual intercourse problem, in regard to either pain or difficult penetration – or both. The curved penis of is the primary reason sexual penetration is compromised, and it is also the reason for the pain that can be experienced by either – or both – partner. This is especially so in those cases in which the distortion is so severe it is described as “cork screw” or “cane handle.”
Incomplete filling of the penis with blood during erection can also happen in Peyronies. This results in an area of the penis, either small or large, that is soft and unable to sustain the rigors of intercourse. A soft area within an otherwise firm erection presents a weakness and vulnerability of the normally turgid erection. A weak area of erection can suddenly collapse or buckle during intercourse, causing additional injury to the penile tissue. This can cause pain, inflammation and additional fibrous infiltration.
It is a rare Peyronies couple that does not deal with some level of sexual difficulty related to penile distortion and reduced firmness of the erection. The many physical, emotional and social issues of Peyronie’s disease are complex. For this reason the reader is referred to “Peyronie’s Disease and Sex” for more information about this complicated area of life with a curved penis.
Treatment of the curved penis
It is important to remember that any penile distortion that develops in Peyronie’s disease is not the primary problem of this condition. A curved penis that appears one night is difficult to ignore, but is only a symptom of the real problem of Peyronie’s disease – the scar. Without the Peyronies scar there would be no curved penis.
This is the reason I advise men who are undergoing Peyronies treatment to focus on the size, shape, density and surface qualities of the scar or plaque to determine if their Alternative Medicine treatment is being effective. The curvature can improve or worsen as the scar is reduced.
A small scar can cause a large bend, just as a large scar can cause no bend at all if it is balanced and symmetrical. For this reason a curved penis can worsen as the scar is being reduced or eliminated. Estimating progress or success of a PD therapy plan is difficult . A man can have many more scars than he is aware of, and they can be larger than can be detected since they are often difficult to locate and often overlap.
If only one scar is present the curvature problems are direct and easy to understand, although this is unusual. However, if multiple scars are present the internal pulling and twisting they cause can be very complicated. Several scars can interact on many planes of internal penile tissue. Any reduction in one or more scar will alter the internal tension and pulling of the tissues, resulting in an altered curvature. There is no guarantee the curvature will change for the better initially – sometimes it can look worse as the scars become smaller. This is why I advise to focus all attention to the size, shape, density and surface qualities of the scar while treatment of the Peyronies problem continues. Realize the curved penis is just a reflection of what is going on with the scar9s) below the surface.
Do not be discouraged by the curved penis of Peyronie’s disease. Instead, stay focused on your plan for effective Peyronies treatment. Learn more about Peyronie’s disease treatment.
Peyronie’s disease and baby boomers
Peyronie’s disease: male health problem no one knows about
If you are a member of the baby boomer generation and have never heard of Peyronie’s (pay-row-neez) disease, you are not alone. However, if you are a male baby boomer or married to one, you are in the prime age group to experience a problem you know nothing about. This is so because Peyronies disease primarily affects men between 50 to 65 years of age, although an age range of 18 to 80 years has been reported, with an average age at onset of 53.
Few people know about the problem until they need Peyronie’s disease treatment. This is why it is important for all baby boomers to know about, and how to avoid, it because this health problem can easily ruin your life.
Peyronie’s disease remains one of the most perplexing and difficult urological diseases to treat; it has been called “the doctor’s nightmare”. Most everything about this condition (cause, progression, symptoms, age distribution, response to treatment) is variable and unique to the man who has it. The great variability of Peyronie’s disease that makes it difficult to study and to understand, also makes it almost impossible to treat like other medical conditions.
It is a complex problem that is much more common than most people realize. Estimates suggest that up to eight out of 100 men over the age of 40 have Peyronie’s disease – that is a lot of people worldwide – and still only a small percent of people have ever heard of it.
People are reluctant to discuss this problem because it involves the male organ. For this reason it is difficult to develop accurate information and statistics, especially since men are so shy on one hand, yet also inclined to exaggerate.
Definition of Peyronie’s disease
Peyronie’s disease can best be understood as an exaggerated wound healing in response to an injury in which an excessive amount of Peyronie’s scar tissue develops within the man’s shaft.
Peyronie’s disease (also known by over 12 different names, among which is “iduratio penis plastica”) is very special disorder of the connective tissue in which fibrous “scars” or “plaques” develop usually after direct injury. This Peyronie’s plaque occurs in a special tissue of the shaft known as the tunica albuginea, a fibrous chamber or envelope that surrounds the two penile cylindrical shaped masses of spongy tissue known as the corpora cavernosa. The corpora cavernosa enlarge during sexual excitement, and the tunica albuginea covering, are designed to expand and elongate. If there is fibrous scar or plaque material in the tunica albuginea, the expansion and elongation cannot develop properly resulting in bending, weakness, shortening and incomplete filling of the organ. Sometimes this distortion is mild (just a few degrees) and does not affect the ability to perform, while at other times the distortion can be extreme (more than 90 degrees) resulting in greatly adverse consequences.
A certain degree of normal penile curvature can and does occur in some men. This is a benign and natural condition many men are born with, commonly referred to as congenital curvature; this is not Peyronie’s disease.
Peyronie’s disease signs and symptoms
Four common findings of Peyronie’s disease:
- Pain – caused by inflammation and stretching of internal tissues in response to injury and distortion; can be present constantly or only during erection
- Nodule or mass formation – variable size lumps or elongated cords can develop in one or multiple areas; sometimes these are difficult or impossible to locate depending on the density, depth and size of the scar formation
- Curvature or distortion – caused by presence of one or more nodules or masses of scar tissue in the tunica albuginea, preventing normal expansion during erection; can be minor to gross in appearance
- Reduced sexual ability – due to physical distortion that prevents penetration or due to reduced firmness that also prevents penetration (erectile dysfunction).
The onset of Peyronie’s disease symptoms can be sudden or slow, but often appears within a month or two after direct injury. The pain of Peyronie’s disease is extremely variable; from hardly noticeable to the kind of pain that prevents sleep. Peyronie’s pain is worse in the beginning, usually gradually improving over time – improvement in a few weeks while others continue for years. For these reasons Peyronie’s pain is not a reliable way to judge the severity or calculate the time for eventual recovery.
Even though Peyronie’s disease is a male health problem, women are also affected by it. They are indirectly and adversely affected by the erectile dysfunction, organ curvature and distortion that make intercourse often impossible, as well as loss of organ size that often occurs over time. Additionally, and perhaps even to a greater degree than men, woman bear the brunt of the mood swings, anger, brooding and ill-temper that accompany their partner’s Peyronies problem.
Treatment of Peyronie’s disease
There is no standard or accepted medical Peyronie’s cure since no drug is proven to eliminate the scar within the shaft. The only accepted and available medical treatment is Peyronie’s disease surgery. However, given enough time after Peyronie’s surgery the condition will only re-appear in a worsened presentation. This surgical outcome is made bleaker by knowing that even the first Peyronie’s surgery can result in total loss of sensation (anesthesia), increased pain and increased curvature and greater scar formation than before surgery, and in some cases amputation.
The Peyronie’s Disease Institute has specialized for the last eight years in the use of Alternative Medicine therapies and techniques that are found to be successful in perhaps 60-80% of cases. None of the therapies are known to result in adverse reactions or side effects. For more information about the Alternative Medicine approach, visit Peyronie’s disease treatment.
Prevention of Peyronie’s disease
With so many variable aspects of this problem to consider, it is important to know that in addition to everything else, there is no universal agreement about the cause of Peyronies. Some say that injury alone cannot start the problem as we have described above, but that other genetic and metabolic factors must also be present. The Peyronie’s Disease Institute takes the position that this is true. However, if a man never sustains direct injury to the area he is far less likely to develop Peyronies.
With age not working in the favor of any baby boomer couple, it is important to evaluate all situations in which direct injury can affect this area – especially sexual activity. This requires that special caution is exercised if a baby boomer gentleman finds he no longer has the usual firmness he previously possessed (erectile dysfunction). Attempting intercourse with a partially flaccid organ can result in sudden buckling or abrupt bending during insertion or the sex act itself. Another way to prevent injury is to modify the techniques used during sexual relations. The single most common injury that starts Peyronie’s disease occurs when the female partner is on top, and she loses hold of him while she thrusts down, jamming and painfully bending him against her upper thigh. To avoid this kind of injury it is important to not use any female-superior position, but to use other techniques in which physical contact is controlled, firm and not likely to disengage during activity.
Even if baby boomers have never heard of this terrible condition that robs a couple of one of the greatest pleasures of life, it happens every day. Now that you know about Peyronie’s disease you can do a lot to protect the best years of your life.
Dr. Theodore Herazy has practiced Alternative Medicine for over 40 years, and has directed the Peyronie’s Disease Institute for the last eight years. He has written two books about this problem, “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook” and “Peyronie’s Disease and Sex.”
Penis Stretching for Peyronie’s Disease Treatment
Penis Stretcher in Peyronie’s Disease Treatment
Here is a post that I recently entered on a Peyronie’s disease forum in response to a man’s comment that he wore a particular penis traction device for three months and noticed no change in his condition. This information about this manual therapy that works well with other Peyronie’s disease natural treatments found on the PDI website.
Greetings estep32002,
I have read your post about the penis stretching or penis traction device for Peyronies treatment.
Previously, I have written to this forum in the negative about these penis traction devices. I have done so because of repeated communications I receive from men who have Peyronie’s disease, who tell me of their lack of success. They tell me of their inability to wear these penis stretcher devices because of built-in design flaws, and their experience of being injured by these stretchers. All that I learn tells me they do not help Peyronie’s disease as the sellers say they do.
Actually, I think you are somewhat unusual in your ability to have worn or used one for three months. Men tell me they cannot stand to put one on for longer than a half hour. They say they get bruised and develop sores after a few minutes or a few hours of use.
One fellow recently told me he wore his expensive model for ten minutes and never put it back on again. Another poor guy admitted to me he has three of them sitting in a drawer, and they all hurt him badly. He thought if bought a better and more expensive one, he would eventually find one that he could use. Three stretchers later, no such luck.
If you could wear such a device long enough to actually stretch the soft tissue of the penis, that does not mean the more rigid and more dense tissue of the Peyronies plaque would also stretch. When I was first introduced to the idea of using a penis traction device to treat Peyronie’s disease, it did not make sense to me. I figured that the only thing that could eventually happen – if all went well – would be that the penis would be larger, but it would still exhibit the PD plaque with the related curvature that it causes. Let me explain.
Just as a chain breaks at its weakest link, a penis that has a Peyronies plaque in it will primarily stretch from the normal, healthy tissue. The normal tissue will stretch sooner and farther than the plaque material can respond to the stretching force. Think of it this way: A roll of toilet paper tears at the perforations because that is a point of weakness in the paper. Here’s another example: Remember when automobile tires had inner tubes? Remember what would happen if you blew it up with air, if it had a weak spot in the rubber wall of the inner tube? Sure. The weak part would bubble up or swell up because it was weaker than the normal strong part. The weaker part would stretch under pressure before the strong part of the rubber had a chance to stretch.
In Peyronie’s disease stretching the weaker tissue is the softer normal tissue, while the stronger tissue is the plaque that contains all the dense fibrous materials. When someone with PD stretches his penis, most or all of the lengthening will come from the more flexible and weaker tissue, not the scar tissue. The scar will not be altered because it cannot participate in the stretch, because the traction force is used up by the normal tissue.
When I ask these traction device makers a few simple questions exactly how their penis enlargement products can help Peyronies, I never receive answers back from them. I ask about the pain and tissue erosion created by the pressure that is applied to hold onto the penis head, and again I get no reply. I think this says a lot
There are safer and more effective ways to stretch the penis, to reduce the PD plaque material, than applying a mechanical appliance that smashes down on the glans to hold the penis. Peyronie’s disease is a complicated and stubborn problem to treat. I have been personally involved with PD for about seven years now, since having the happy experience of developing a pretty nasty case of it. In that time I have learned a lot and helped many men along the way. My advice is to be very careful with these mechanical penis stretcher products. TRH
What I did not mention in that Peyronie’s disease forum response is that the safer and more effective way to stretch the penis was developed by me while working with 10 men who I knew who were customers of the Peyronie’s Disease Institute. If you are interested in learning about this gentle and effective way to treat your Peyronies, go to Peyronie’s penis stretching.