For those who do not have the book, “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook,” this post will be an introduction to the idea that to seriously provide Peyronie’s disease treatment it is absolutely critical for you to master of the physical condition of your Peyronie’s plaque.  This handbook book presents in detail the necessary steps required to fully understand and accurately report all possible physical qualities and aspects of your Peyronie’s plaque or scar.

To use Alternative Medicine well to treat Peyronie’s disease it is necessary that you can accurately describe the current condition of your problem. It is not good enough that you know you have a scar somewhere down there, or that it is a “nodule” or “lump” or “band”, or that your shaft is “curves upward.”   All of these are general and meaningless terms.  They do not clearly and accurately say anything about the specifics of your current state.   Worse yet, these terms are not objective or real enough to compare the condition of your scar from one time to another.

If you think about your Peyronie’s disease problem in these vague terms you would not know enough about your problem – now or in the future – to determine if your Peyronies is getting better or worse.  Saying that your scar is “hard” or “soft” is like saying the weather today is “hot” or “cold.”  These terms are very general and subjective, and mean very little.   This means if someone said it was “cold on Christmas day,”  in middle of summer it would not help him to know exactly how cold it was – he could not “remember” how cold that day was six months later.

Specific Peyronie’s treatment information

If you were looking for a new job and you were told you would be paid “money,” you would not be satisfied with that information.  You would want to know how much money per hour, your total per week, how often you would be paid, what other direct and indirect benefits were included, and your vacation schedule.  You would want details at the beginning of your employment so you would know later if you were being paid correctly on pay day.  You would need details at the beginning to determine later if things were going correctly or not. The same with Peyronie’s treatment.

The other day I had a long discussion with someone who just finished reading my book, “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook.”  I asked about his scars.  He said the largest one was “3/4 of an inch and rather square-ish with somewhat sharp, not rounded, edges, rather flat, generally firm but with a little ‘give’ like the seat cushion of his car, and rough and bumpy like the backside of a carpet.”  The other he said was a scar that was the size, shape, hardness and smoothness of a “grain of un-popped pop corn.”

I was very impressed!  Not only did I fully understand the physical nature of those two scars, but I knew he knew for his future reference how to evaluate his scar as his therapy progressed.  As he continues to make improvement he will be totally confident to identify all progress and changes he makes – or doesn’t make.  He is on top of his problem and he will do a better job and make more progress than the man whose only recollection is that his scar is, “I don’t know, I guess it is just some kind of bump.”

Two months later he would be able to think back to the feeling of a grain of unpopped popcorn and know exactly what his small scar was like.  If later by comparison the ¾ inch square of bumpy cardboard felt like a ¼ by ½ inch strand of overcooked pasta with a loose and rough surface like a pair of woolen socks, he would know for sure he was making progress.  He would know for sure how to manage his dosage and his selection of therapies based on his confidence in the progress he was making.

You cannot possibly remember what “hard” or “soft” felt like one month earlier.  Without vivid, exact and personal references that do not change over time you will not have to guess about your progress or lack of progress.  Saying your scar is a “bump” or that it is ‘hard” is almost useless.  Each description must be loaded with personal meaning that you can accurately refer to later so you will have no doubt if you are making progress or not.

Peyronie’s Disease Handbook

If you follow these instructions from the handbook you will be more knowledgeable about your problem than a medical doctor about the condition of any one patient’s problem.  I guarantee it.  With that knowledge you will be able to direct and control your therapy better than ever before.

The goal is to be a master of what is going on with your Peyronie’s disease treatment on a day to day basis, and to use that knowledge in such a way as to guide your diet and your Alternative Medicine therapy to your fullest success possible.

Good luck to you, even though after all, it is not really about luck, it is about hard work and knowledge!

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.

“What is the very best way to treat my Peyronie’s disease?”  That is the million-dollar question, my friend.

When I developed Peyronie’s disease in 2002, my basic strategy for recovery was this:   50% of men get over their Peyronie’s disease without any outside help – in effect they experience a Peyronie’s disease natural cure.  If this is true – and it is – then it seems most logical to do everything possible to increase my ability to heal my problem like the men in that lucky 50% group.

Even from the start I felt like my Peyronie’s disease it was a problem I could beat since the odds for recovery are good at 50/50.  All I had to do was consistently support and promote my natural ability to heal in this particular area of the body over a period of time, knowing that this would increase the capability of my body to heal itself.   I believed then – and know now – that Peyronie’s natural treatment is often just a matter of time and persistence.

I studied the problem of Peyronie’s disease diligently, I worked even harder, I was always faithful to my plan, and I used myself as a guinea pig for every idea that seemed to have merit.  In less than six months I was free of all traces of the PD scar, all penile distortion was gone, and all lost dimensions returned.  I succeeded.

How to increase Peyronie’s disease natural healing

Everyone comes to the PDI website expecting to see a clear and direct answer, a logical 1-2-3 set of instructions that explains how I beat my Peyronie’s disease, and how you can do it also.   But, that is not the way it works.  There are no magic 1-2-3 steps to success.  Each case of PD is as different as the man who has the problem.  Therefore, every man must work out his own Peyronie’s treatment plan – using all the information and ideas I can supply to you. The lack of specific treatment rules is what frustrates men with PD – as if they do not have enough to be frustrated about already!  But that is just the way it is.

The entire PDI website (if you printed it out, you would have over 400 pages of information), is devoted to Peyronie’s natural treatment.  Even so, all I can give to you is an outline and the basic ideas of how to increase your ability to heal and repair the Peyronie’s plaque.  The “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook” is essential in your recovery from PD; it explains in great detail how to monitor and define the size, shape, density and surface quality of your scar(s) – the most important skill you can develop to speed your recovery. While I freely offer you whatever guidance and ideas you might need, and answer all your questions based on considerable experience with Peyronie’s disease natural treatment, you are still in charge of the way you treat yourself.   This is the way it must be because you must monitor the size, shape, density and surface qualities of your scar(s) to directly judge how your body is responding to your treatment plan.

I present the basic ideas of Peyronie’s treatment, but you must jump in and do your best to determine which of these ideas works best for you.  This is not an exact science, and these are not drugs used for treatment with exact dosages.

For most men it often comes down to deciding how much time and energy you have available to treat your PD each day, and how much money you can afford to spend each month; this is realistic.  You might want to do much more for yourself, but can only afford a little. Do your best – whatever that is. Men who get the best results are those who do the most to increase their ability to heal.  Do as much as you can to get this problem behind you.  Many do very well with the Medium Plan, or some variation of it.  Maybe that will be a good way to start your recovery from PD.

I get reports of success and progress weekly from men who use this approach for Peyronie’s natural treatment.  You will only know if it can help you if you give yourself a chance. I will help you in any way I can to be successful.

Great question, “What is Peyronie’s Disease?”  However, an accurate and honest answer is not always easy to find.  If you are one of the hundreds of new people each day who surf the Internet for a Peyronie’s cure, you need to pay attention to the kind of answer you might run across.

In my experience it is common to receive an incorrect answer when it is provided by someone who only wants to sell you something, like a magic herb or a manual penis stretcher.  When a salesperson is the source of your information the answer will often minimize Peyronies by oversimplifying the real problem to the point the answer is not truthful.

The reason that someone will intentionally give you this false information is easy to understand.  If Peyronie’s disease can be made to sound like a simple problem, then a simple solution can be more easily presented to you in a believable way – and the more likely you will buy a product if the problem and solution sound uncomplicated and straightforward.

The usual short (and false) answer you will see to this question is, “Peyronie’s disease is a curved penis.”  This is almost like saying that Peyronie’s disease is no more complicated than a bent paperclip.  All you have to do is straighten out the paperclip – and we all know how easy that is to do – and you are as good as new.

What you must understand is that the bent penis of Peyronie’s disease is just a symptom of what is wrong.  The penile curvature is not the problem, it is just a sign of the real problem. What is causing the penis to curve is the actual problem that must be addressed.   Click here to view

If you have pneumonia, you will probably have a nasty cough. But, it is not correct – or helpful – to say, “Pneumonia is a cough.”   If the problem was presented to you like that, and you believed it, then someone could sell you a cough suppressant as a cure for pneumonia.  You would believe that stopping the cough is all you have to do.  The truth is that the cough is just an outward sign of a deeper problem. To address your pneumonia correctly you must do what is necessary to help your body reduce and remove the lung infection, the inflammatory response that occurs because of an invasion of foreign bacteria, and the cough – and the pneumonia – will no longer be an issue.  The cough is just a sign of the pneumonia, it is not pneumonia – just as a curved penis is a sign of Peyronie’s disease, but it is not the problem. The bent penis is just an outward sign of a Peyronie’s plaque or scar tissue within the tunica albuginea interfering with the normal filling of the corpora cavernosa, resulting in a bent or distorted erection. No amount of penis stretching or mystery herb from Afghanistan will eliminate the PD plaque.

So, what is Peyronie’s disease?

Peyronie’s disease is a problem with no known cause and no known medical cure in which the presence of a dense fibrous nodule or band in the tunica albuginea layer of the penis causes a variable degrees of pain, penile distortion during erection, reduced sexual function, and loss of physical size in length and girth.

If the explanation, “Peyronie’s disease is a bend in the penis” makes you think it is just like a wrinkle in your shirt that can be ironed out – then you are ready to accept the notion that pulling on the bent penis can magically remove that kink.  If it were only that simple and worked that well.

You will notice that none of the advertisements for the magical herbs or mechanical penis stretchers explain how they work.  The reason there is no explanation is because they do not affect the Peyronie’s plaque, which is at the heart of Peyronie’s disease.

For additional discussion to the question, “What is Peyronie’s disease?” please go to Peyronie’s disease discussion.

It is not uncommon for a man to learn that he has Peyronie’s disease and to have his doctor immediately recommend penis surgery to attempt to remove the Peyronie’s plaque or straightened his curved penis.

When faced with even a mild degree of penis curvature someone might think that penile surgery is the only treatment option.   It seems to me from my perspective in talking to a dozen men each week about their history with Peyronie’s disease that many of them are given strong pressure to have surgery far too early in the process.

It seems they are not being told that many who undergo penis surgery end up with numerous side effects like pain, numbness or loss of all sensation of the penis, additional loss of length and girth greater than their PD gave to them, greater curvature than their PD gave to them, and total impotence.   I frequently communicate with men who have more pain, distortion and loss of sexual ability after penile surgery than before it.

In a desperate effort to satisfy their sexual partner, and under false expectation of how easy and safe the surgery will be, men sometimes make matters worse with Peyronie’s disease surgery.  Worse yet, it often happens that a man will have a second Peyronie’s surgery to correct the errors and problems created by the first Peyronie’s surgery – only to have even greater problems after the second surgical attempt.

Peyronie’s surgery to the extreme

The worse case of failed Peyronie’s disease surgery I ever spoke to occurred sometime in 2006.  I received a phone call from a man who asked if I guaranteed the treatment we present in the PDI website.  I told him that no medical procedure or therapy is ever guaranteed – even aspirin.  I said there is no such thing as a medical guarantee provided anywhere in the world because of the complexity of human physiology.  I asked him why he was interested in a guarantee.  He said he was desperate for something to help his terribly curved penis that had gotten progressively worse after each of three separate penis surgeries.  He said he was scheduled to have his fourth penis surgery in two weeks, but he would cancel that surgery if I could give him a guarantee that the PDI process would correct his problem.  I told him I was sorry that I could not make such a guarantee, and said I doubted his surgeon was going to guarantee the next operation.  He corrected me.  He told me that the next surgery was going to “fix’ his problem because the next operation was for the surgeon to amputate – completely cut off – his penis!

He went on to explain that his penis was now just a tiny two inch mass of twisted scar tissue; he had no feeling in his penis; for the last two years when he urinated he would get his abdomen wet; his wife was long gone and he felt that suicide was his only other option, so having his penis cut off made sense to him.

I was shocked.   Just as I was starting to explain that I could not guarantee his results at this late stage in his problem I heard a click, and the phone was silent.  The entire conversation took less than five minutes, but it was the most powerful discussion I have ever had with any of my Peyronie’s men.  I will never forget the empty and desperate tone of his voice.

Penis surgery for a man who already has Peyronie’s disease presents a greater risk than for someone who does not have a Peyronies problem:

1. High degree contracture due to fibrous tissue buildup, resulting in greater curvature than prior to surgery.
2. Greater chance for numbness or total loss of sensation, or Peyronie’s pain,
3. Greater chance for impotence.

Start with conservative Peyronie’s treatment, then penis surgery if it fails

I am not saying that a bad outcome will happen to all men who have Peyronie’s surgery, but it can and does happen so the possibility should be clearly kept in mind before rushing into surgery.    Every day I hear from men who tell me their doctor on the first visit suggested penis surgery to “correct” their Peyronie’s disease.

It is my opinion that it is safer and wiser to take a more conservative route of care using the Alternative Medicine form of natural Peyronie’s treatment options that have been presented here since 2002, before considering surgery.

Verapamil is used in Peyronie’s disease treatment by injection directly into the Peyronie’s plaque or a topical Verapamil cream is applied to the skin over the Peyronie’s plaque.   For more information about this method, see Peyronie’s disease treatment via direct drug injection.

Verapamil is a calcium channel blocker of the phenylalkylamine L-type.  It works by relaxing the muscles of the heart and blood vessels. Verapamil is an anti-arrhythmic drug approved by the FDA in 1981 to treat hypertension, angina, cardiac arrhythmia, and recently, cluster headaches.  No oral or transdermal Verapamil is approved for Peyronie’s disease treatment.  Most used for Peyronie’s treatment is in the form of a topical Verapamil cream that is applied twice daily for many months.

There are many different companies that compete against each other with their own unique patented Verapamil formula, creating difficulty to know what to believe about the use of Verapamil for Peyronie’s disease treatment.

With so much competition among companies and unsafe practices of illegal companies, some even resort to making inferior and dangerous topical Verapamil cream products.  As a result, Peyronie’s patients who use counterfeit Verapamil have reported:

• Changes in blood pressure, causing dizziness, fainting, heart beat irregularities, often requiring changes in other medications to become stabilized
• Severe skin irritation
• Skin burns and blistering

Peyronie’s Verapamil connection

As with many popular medications, the exact way Verapamil is supposed to benefit Peyronie’s disease is not entirely known.  Keep this in mind when someone says they do not know how vitamin E or acetyl-L-carnitine or PABA helps Peyronie’s disease.

It is proposed that long term use of Verapamil blocks calcium from entering into the Peyronie’s plaque or scar.  Another theory s that Verapamil increases fibroblast activity to make more collagenase that breaks down the Peyronie’s plaque or scar. However, calcium is an essential mineral that must have free access and movement in all tissues and hundreds of different normal and healthy chemical, enzyme and hormone functions of the body.  The body needs calcium to function normally and healthfully, and it does not do well when it is blocked by a drug like Verapamil.

Peyronie’s disease and Verapamil side effects

When taken topically or orally for Peyronie’s, Verapamil can cause side effects that may impair thinking or abnormal organ function because of calcium metabolism interference.   Care should be used when driving a car, operating dangerous equipment, or any skill in which mental alertness or memory is needed.

Verapamil and Peyronie’s disease warning

Men treating Peyronie’s disease with Verapamil must deal with extreme fatigue, loss of energy, blood pressure problems and skin reactions that often occur.  Also, if Verapamil is stopped suddenly any side effect or problem for which it is being taken (like Peyronies) may become worse.

You should not use Verapamil if you are allergic to it, or if you have:

• Serious heart conditions, especially “sick sinus syndrome” or “AV block” (unless you have a pacemaker)
• Low blood pressure
• Recent heart attack

Personal experience with Verapamil and Peyronie’s disease

After attempting to treat my own Peyronie’s disease with topical Verapamil cream for eight months, my overall health suffered from weakness, fatigue, memory failure and low blood pressure caused by the Verapamil in my blood stream.  However, worst of all, while using Verapamil my Peyronie’s disease worsened.   The size of each Peyronie’s plaque increased and my Peyronie’s curve doubled.

Shortly after using Alternative Medicine to eliminate my Peyronie’s problem, I started the Peyronie’s Disease Institute with my MD colleagues I was working with at the time.  With this organization I communicate with dozens of men daily about their problems with PD.  Considering the information outlined above, it seems fewer and fewer medical doctors use Verapamil for Peyronie’s disease management.

Let’s clear up the confusion about the Peyronie’s plaque, the fibrous scar-like tissue that is the most common characteristic of Peyronie’s disease.  Many people when reading “scar” automatically think they should see it on the skin surface; for this reason I prefer the term Peyronie’s plaque.

Peyronie’s plaque is usually a flat or slightly elevated mass of fibrous tissue just under the skin, in a thin but tough membrane of the penis known as the tunica albuginea.  Sometimes it is cord-like or nodular, but usually it lies flat making it difficult to locate.

Peyronie’s plaque is not in any way related to plaque material that line artery walls. It is benign, meaning it is not cancerous and it is not a tumor.  Peyronie’s disease and this fibrous material is not in any way contagious, and is not in any way the result of any transmittable disease or microorganism – thus there is no way for a sexual partner to “catch’ the Peyronie’s plaque.

The mystery of Peyronie’s disease

For a male health problem that affects up to nine percent of the adult population, it is amazing that practically no man ever hears about PD until the day he is given the diagnosis.  It is this shock – a “mystery” condition that comes out of the blue, for which there is no known cause and no known cure that can wreck a man’s life.  While caught off guard, totally confused and shocked upon first learning about Peyronie’s disease, a man is often does not ask all the standard questions and does not remember the information as he receives his diagnosis.

With so many details pouring into his ears, and so many questions rolling around in this brain, it is easy to understand why a man can leave his doctors office and not remember much about the mystery condition.  Even the doctor’s explanation about a Peyronie’s plaque can become confused, making it sound like it is related to the blood vessels.

Location of Peyronie’s plaque suggested by penile curvature

You can usually count on finding your internal plaque on the concave part of a curved penis.  If a plaque is located on the topside of the penile shaft (the most common location), the penis will bend upward.  A plaque on the underside causes a downward penile curvature.  A plaque on the left lateral side of the penis causes a curvature to the left, and a Peyronie’s plaque on the right lateral side of the penis causes a curvature to the right.

Many times a distortion develops on both top and side, or top and bottom, resulting in twists, hourglass deformities or indentation, even shortening of the penis.

Peyronies plaque is elusive

Each week I receive emails asking, “Since my doctor examined me and could not find any Peyronie’s plaque material, and I cannot see a scar, do you think I really have Peyronie’s disease?”

There is never an EXTERNAL scar or plaque in Peyronie’s disease that can be seen.  The Peyronie’s plaque is always an internal mass of fibrous tissue that is sometimes called a scar, but is not a scar in the usual sense.  Peyronie’s plaques or ‘scars” are only sometimes obvious, while at other times they cannot be found if a person’s life depended on it.  Ultimately, if you have Peyronie’s disease you must assume it is there and you should try as many different tactics as you can to find your scar(s) because having a clear and accurate information will help your Peyronie’s disease treatment effort.

To find the internal Peyronie’s plaque, sometimes it is helpful to think about it being much larger than you have previously imagined; mentally expand the size of the scar you are looking for.  If you were looking for a “pea” before and couldn’t find it, start looking for a “postage stamp” or a “thumb nail” size structure.  This change of the mental image increases your odds to detect it.

When the plaque cannot be located, but there is still pain and distortion of any kind, a diagnosis of PD can still be made.  This is so because the fibrous plaque can be so:

1. Small – it cannot be found

2. Soft – it blends into the other tissue and cannot be detected

3. Deep – it cannot be reached easily

4. Large and flat – that the edges are not determined, almost like something that is so close to you that you do not see it because you are looking far away

When plaque is never found it is because of a combination of two or more of these factors – deep and small, or soft, large and flat, or deep, soft and doctor error, and so on.

It is common to have difficulty locating the plaque for the first time.  Sometimes it is best to forget about finding a “scar.” Instead just try to find something – anything – within the mass of erectile tissue that feels unlike the other tissue.  Finding something unlike the rest of the penis tissue will help define the problem tissue that can be difficult to locate. It might be you have an unreasonable expectation of what a “scar” or Peyronie’s plaque should feel like, making it easy to miss what is rather obvious to someone else with experience in this regard.

After an unusual tissue is found, mark its location on the penis with a marker pen or something that will stay on the skin for a few days.  Return to that location each day to re-evaluate it.  You want to determine if it becomes easier to make sense of it, so you can monitor it during your Peyronie’s treatment.

When someone asks about Peyronie’s disease symptoms they usually want to know if they have Peyronie’s disease.   This is a diagnosis that is not always easy to make, since the actual signs and symptoms of Peyronie’s disease can be tricky at times.

In order to answer this question it is first important to remember that a symptom is something a person feels or experiences inside, meaning it is subjective. A symptom is what someone experiences as a result or during an illness, injury or disease.  Symptoms can include chills, Peyronie’s pain, shaking, shivering, nausea, or dizziness.  Symptoms are reported by the patient to help a doctor diagnose a problem.

In the case of Peyronie’s symptoms the only subjective finding would be the penile pain that can be variable; pain can be felt constantly, only when erect, only when non-erect or only when flaccid.  In addition this pain can be extremely mild, very severe, or something between. Because the Peyronie’s pain is not always present – and is sometimes totally absent – it is not always a reliable way to make a diagnosis of PD.

You might say a sign is the opposite of a symptom.  A sign is an outward or obvious physical indicator or manifestation of illness, injury or disease.  In this way it is said that a sign is objective, since it is always something that another person can detect, measure in some way or see that helps to make a diagnosis.  Some common signs are rapid pulse, elevated body temperature, low blood pressure, bleeding, a rash or open wound, bruising, to name but a few.

In the case of Peyronie’s disease, there are only a few signs or outward findings that are used to make a diagnosis.  These signs can be just as variable as the Peyronie’s pain, such as the elusive Peyronie’s plaque or scar, a curved penis or some other distortion, and impotence or  reduced sexual ability.  Because each of these Peyronie’s signs are also not always present – and can be sometimes totally absent – it is not always a simple or easy thing to make this diagnosis.

Very often only a few Peyronie’s symptoms and signs are available to make a diagnosis, with perhaps the most common being some type of curved penis or distortion.

Click here for more information about Peyronie’s disease.

There are many important nutrients – vitamin, mineral and amino acids – that should be used to improve and support the ability of the body to heal and repair the Peyronie’s plaque and help reverse the curved penis it causes.  However, since starting this work in 2002, I have never heard of a medical doctor prescribe any supplement other than vitamin E.  I think this says a lot about what MDs know about Peyronie’s disease vitamin therapy; their knowledge is limited, focused only to the obvious, and tends to not go beyond what everyone else is prescribing.

Vitamin E and Peyronie’s disease

The standard Peyronie’s disease vitamin E recommendation of the medical profession is to “get some vitamin E, and take no more than 400 IU a day.”  Occasionally the dosage will be doubled to 800 IU daily of vitamin E by some doctors who think outside the box a bit.  This is important to remember because vitamin E is essentially the only non-drug Peyronie’s disease vitamin treatment that is suggested to a man with Peyronie’s disease.

Vitamin E is available in both a synthetic form and a naturally occurring organic form.  Which form you decide to use ultimately determines how much can be taken safely.  There are eight different members of the vitamin E family.  Four are known as tocopherols and the other four are tocotrienols.  The most widely found vitamin E member is gamma tocopherol, which assists the elimination of nitrogen free radicals, as well as being an effective anti-inflammatory agent.  Tocotrienols are primarily found in the skin and subdermis where they protect against UV and free radical damage. Tocopherols are found in the major organs.  A balanced diet – very difficult to achieve these days – contains all eight members of the vitamin E family.

Because of costs and chemical stability,  and because early research proposed it was the only member of the family to have biologic benefit to man, most vitamin E supplements contain only alpha tocopherol.  This means most men on Peyronie’s disease vitamin therapy as prescribed by their medical doctor will receive only one of the eight members of the vitamin E family.  Since the early days of vitamin E research (not so long ago in the 1950s) it has been proven repeatedly that the complete vitamin E family, stressing gamma tocopherol and tocotrienols in their natural and unesterified form, accelerate wound healing and minimize scar formation.   For this reason I am most insistent that men using Peyronie’s disease vitamin E treatment use a high quality vitamin E product that is heavily slanted toward gamma tocopherol and all the tocotrienols, like Yasoo Health’s Factor 400/400.

If you are concerned about vitamin E safety issues, please read Peyronie’s Disease Treatment and Vitamin E that answers all dosage and safety questions.

The body is like a house

In order to build a solid house and have it operate well, it is necessary to have a wide variety of components available during the construction phase and during the long maintenance phase when the house begins to need help in the form of repairs.

During the construction phase, many problems would develop if all the builder had to work with were roof shingles, or just windows, or just doors.  A wide variety of components are needed to make a good house – lumber of various widths, thicknesses and lengths, concrete, plywood, along with nails, dry wall, electric wire, and so many other hundreds of different things.

During the maintenance phase, many replacements and repair items are needed.  If the home owner only had nails, or furnace filters, or pale yellow paint to work with, it would not help a bit if the problem was a leaky roof, a squeaky door, or a leaky faucet.

It makes sense that a wide variety of replacement and repair parts are needed for all the parts of a house.  It also makes sense that a Peyronie’s disease vitamin therapy program has to also be broad and diverse.   How does it make sense that all the problems of Peyronie’s disease are solved with just vitamin E?

Peyronie’s disease vitamin, mineral, and amino acid treatment

Peyronie’s Disease Institute uses a variety of different nutrients to satisfy the many needs of the body to have all the needed supplies to heal and repair the scar tissue in the best way possible.

Look at the list of different products that are suggested for use in the large Peyronie’s treatment plan.  The list is long because the process is complicated.   Of course, even the large plan does not contain all the nutrients that could be recommended to heal and repair the Peyronie’s plaque; PABA, acetyl-L-carnitine, quercetin, bromelain and herbs to stimulate the process are just some of the additional therapies that can be used.

Your house is large and complicated, but it is nothing compared to the body. When the body develops Peyronie’s disease it just does not make sense to attempt to fix it with vitamin E only.  That would be like trying to fix a broken window with a screw driver.   The screw driver might be a useful to remove some glass from the window frame, but other tools – and glass – will be needed for the repair to be done correctly.

For more information about successful Peyronie’s disease treatment.

Peyronie’s disease treatment using drug injection into the delicate tunica albuginea of the penis is a medical therapy that is fast loosing favor for treatment of the Peyronie’s penis.  One of the reasons is the lack of good results, the other is that it has been shown that injections can cause or aggravate Peyronie’s disease in many cases.

I have personally communicated with hundreds of men whose Peyronies started after a series of penile injections that were undertaken for a variety of reasons.  It appears the drug is not so much the issue that causes injury to the tunica membrane, but the repeated penetration and trauma that causes the scar material that eventually starts a Peyronies problem.   However, it has also been shown that the presence of certain drugs can cause a chemical irritation to the tunica albuginea.  So in this regard, drug injections could easily represent a double threat of injury to the tunica that results in Peyronie’s disease.

Peyronie’s treatment – “First, do no harm”

This blog post about Peyronie’s disease treatment using direct drug injections (Verapamil, cortisone, etc.) should hit home for a large number of you.  Many men have undergone painful drug injections into the penis because their medical doctor thought it was worth the effort, and only found themselves with a new problem or worsening of their original Peyronie’s disease.

First I will simply copy an article, “Extracorporeal shock-wave therapy in the treatment of Peyronie’s disease.”  This research discussion is essentially about Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy, ESWT (or ESWL as they call it here).  This article comes from www.pubmed.gov under the reference number PMID: 15114750 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE].

What is important to note in our particular discussion is the area I have highlighted for emphasis.  You will note from an earlier post about ESWT in Peyronie’s Disease Treatment Forum blog, this form of therapy has been fairly well abandoned by a large percent of doctors who used it for many years since these injections seem to cause more problems than it helps. The reason this information about ESWT (or ESWL) is included in this article about penile injections is that these Russian physicians make a very interesting comment while discussing ESWT that underscores the damage created by injections (of any kind) into the tunica albuginea.

[Article in Russian]

Neĭmark AI, Astakhov IuI, Sidor MV.

The authors analyse the results of treatment of 28 patients with Peyronie’s disease using extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (ESWL) performed on Dornier U15 lithotriptor. A total of 2-6 sessions were made, maximal number–12. The efficacy was controlled by clinical indices and ultrasonic investigation (Doppler mapping of the blood flow). ESWL proved to be efficient in the treatment of Peyronie’s disease (PD), primarily, in patients with early disease before appearance of severe fibroplastic alterations. Less plaque vascularization by energetic Doppler mapping due to ESWL is an important diagnostic criterion of PD treatment efficacy. Conservative treatment is not indicated in marked deformities and plaque calcification, erectile dysfunction. Moreover, any injection into the tunica albuginea, especially complicated by hematomas (deep tissue bruising) may be a damaging factor which triggers fibrous inflammation. Such patients should be treated surgically. If the patient is interested in immediate results or is not interested in continuation of sexual life, the treatment is ineffective. Thus, ESWL is an effective, safe method of PD treatment but requires further study and accumulation of clinical experience.

It seems that the problems penile injections can cause is not that necessarily about the drug that is injected into the tunica, but the needle itself that is used to deliver the drug. An injection to deliver any drug, or sterile water, can cause injury to this delicate membrane.  This sets off an inflammatory response that can result in significant Peyronie’s disease plaque or scar tissue formation for men who as so predisposed.   Doing this once can be risky.  Doing this up to a dozen times over a few months, as is often the recommended course of therapy, just multiples the opportunity for injury to mount on top of injury.

This Russian research team offers the opinion that the effects of such injection into the penile shaft causes such significant plaque development, that surgery is the best treatment option for the damage that it can cause.   Obviously, I do not agree with that, since surgery can also cause more scar development. Their conclusion is that they find men who receive these injections often eventually are rewarded with a disturbed and discontinued sexual life.

Growing concern about injections for Peyronie’s disease treatment

This idea is brought to your attention to demonstrate there are many in the medical community who agree with the same position that I have taken for many years now.  These doctors and I contend it is inherently risky, in fact, dangerous, to stick needles repeatedly into the penis for Peyronie’s disease treatment. Their  logic concludes that any treatment that can start or aggravate the very problem it is attempting to treat, is not much of a treatment.

It is unfortunate that the medical community turns a blind eye to the direct observation of poor results, serious irritation of the tunica, and the solid logic that reputes injections as a form of Peyronie’s cure.  Those who continue to inject their Peyronie’s disease patients, and bring these men farther down the road toward greater plaque development, must be desperate to look useful or just ignorant of how Peyronie’s disease often develops.  It is so common for medical doctors to think only in terms of medicine and surgery, notwithstanding the tragedy that can often result from their limited thinking.

The Peyronie’s treatment concept of using non-invasive methods to increase the healing response of the body is a safer and more trustworthy Peyronie’s disease treatment than some of the aggressive medial schemes being promoted today.