All Peyronie’s disease treatment is controversial.  Peyronie’s vitamin therapy is even more so because the medical profession has always been slow to understand the use of nutrition to promote wellness.  This website presents information about the use of natural Peyronie’s disease vitamin and minerals unlike the conventional use of drugs and surgery to treat Peyronie’s disease.

The use of Alternative Medicine in the form of Peyronie’s disease vitamin, mineral and enzyme treatment has been developed in the following manner:
1. Distillation and interpretation of opinions and data found in hundreds of medical research studies and ongoing technical data from the scientific community, as found in the footnotes at the conclusion of each of the Peyronie’s disease treatment subheadings.
2.  Concurrence of opinion of the three primary medical doctors, and Dr. Herazy, who practiced together at Pioneer Medical Clinic, Chicago, IL, using their combined clinical experience of 90 years in practice, along with their medical knowledge and experience with  Complementary Medicine to promote the innate healing response of the immune system.
3.  Observations and personal experience of Dr. Herazy who treated his own Peyronie’s disease problem while using these same Peyronie’s vitamin treatment principles. Dr. Herazy was successful treating his severe case of Peyronie’s disease, and presents on this website what he learned from his valuable experience.
4.  Dr. Herazy’s experience and direct feedback from thousands of men and women who successfully used the Peyronie’s disease vitamin and enzyme treatment principles outlined throughout this large website.  This valuable information is retrieved from many dozens of telephone and email discussions each day since 2002, in which issues of progress and lack of progress, modifications of Peyronie’s disease treatment protocols are worked out on an individual basis.
5.   Analysis of data and information derived from PDI’s ongoing seven-year survey questionnaire research project, voluntarily provided by approximately 2,400 men who have Peyronie’s disease.

Peyronie’s disease vitamin treatment not mainstream

Traditional medicine, with no accepted Peyronie’s drug treatment, offers only surgery as a mainstream cure.  The Peyronie’s Disease Institute is not against Peyronie’s surgery when a case has been unresponsive to prolonged and aggressive use of multiple conservative care.  However, this is not how it is often done; too many men rush into surgery believing that is an easy and sure solution to a big problem.  Each surgical candidate should remember these three things:
1. Surgery will not restore the penis to its original length.
2. After surgery, hardened scar will develop to shorten the penis, often by 1-2 inches.
3. There is no guarantee that additional scarring might occur at the site of surgery, resulting in a return and possible worsening of Peyronie’s disease.

Yet, there are many Peyronie’s vitamin therapies investigated in large body of medical research that documents positive, but inconclusive and sometimes variable, reports of success while treating PD. Improvement and recovery made in the body while using Peyronie’s disease vitamin and enzyme treatments can be subtle and slow since their purpose is only to support or encourage a normal process of nature that is reduced or absent.

Our Peyronie’s disease treatment theory is that the potential benefits of these subtle natural therapies are enhanced and multiplied by simply using several alternative therapies at the same time – known to science as synergy.  It is easy to understand – at least for most laypeople – that a single natural therapy will not work as well as aggressive multiple therapies; like “ganging up” on the problem. One child cannot lift a grown man; five or six children can do it with ease.

It is our opinion that it is safe and reasonable to attempt to improve the eventual outcome of PD by faithfully and aggressively using several conservative Peyronie’s vitamin treatment ideas that are based on sound science and common sense.  For more information, click on Peyronie’s treatment help starts here.

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 B_x 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 grey 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.

Everyone wants a medical Peyronie’s cure that is a fast, easy, economical – and, oh yes – guaranteed.  In short, the ideal cure for Peyronie’s disease from the traditional medical viewpoint would be simply to pop a pill or two.  In this way everyone with a bent nail could go about with his life as before, with minimal inconvenience or effort.

Why would I say that this is the viewpoint of “everyone”?   Well, simply because we live in a medical society.  When people think of a “cure’ they think of medicine as it is currently being practiced.   All efforts on the medical industry drawing board are directed toward looking for a drug – oral or injectible – to be the great cure for Peyronie’s disease that has evaded us for over 425 years.   Currently, Peyronie’s surgery is the only treatment that organized medicine makes available to someone with this problem and it is beset by limitations and drawbacks.

Other than the Peyronie’s Disease Institute no other effort has been made to seriously investigate a treatment for Peyronie’s disease outside of the traditional medical model.

This limited viewpoint of looking only for a medication to treat Peyronie’s disease is typical of the medical and drug industries.   The business people who decide how to approach a particular health problem tend to look at these issues from a profit standpoint; they also only look in directions and for treatment approaches that are not only profitable, but which they can control so that their profit is protected.

Since the perfect Peyronie’s drug has eluded the medical establishment, they are quick to say there is no known cure for Peyronie’s disease.   What this statement really means is that there is no known cure for Peyronie’s disease using a drug or medical procedure they can profit from, control, and manipulate.

There is a Peyronie’s cure

What kind of medical quackery and heresy – nonsense – is it to say that there is a cure for Peyronie’s disease?  Actually none.  The body itself, in a fairly high percent of cases, will heal and correct – cure – the Peyronie’s plaque so that the problem does not advance.  Peyronie’s disease eventually leaves without a trace of deformity, pain, scar formation or limited sexual ability for about half of the men who get this problem.  It is said that about in half of the men who develop Peyronie’s disease, within the first 12-24 months the entire problem will just go away on its own.  Does that sound like a Peyronie’s cure to you?  It does to me.

How does the body go about doing this miraculous thing, to rid itself of the terrible curved penis that is the hallmark of Peyronie’s disease, and heal over the mass of fibrous material that is known as the Peyronie’s plaque?  I do not know; no one knows.  But then again, I do not know how my body does the thousands of miraculous and complex things it does every second of every day of my life.  I do not know, as a small example, how my body can take the breakfast I just ate and convert into living tissue.  We are all just wonderful that way, and part of this is demonstrated when a man heals his own Peyronie’s disease.

The Peyronie’s Disease Institute is involved with the use of a wide variety of nutritional and supplemental products that are intended to increase and improve the ability of the body to heal the Peyronie’s scar.  It is really not so complicated or more mysterious than that.

For those who say it is quackery or nonsense to think that a person can improve his ability to heal and function better in life, I ask, “Why it is that a person eats?”

What is the purpose of eating?  To satisfy the taste buds?  No, that is just a side benefit.  We eat, we put nutrients into our body so it can function; the food we take in is fuel to enable life and repair to take place.   By following the ideas of the Peyronie’s Disease Institute about PD treatment, all we are doing is trying to increase the odds and opportunity for the body to heal and repair in a way that is better than what is happening now.  Call this a Peyronie’s cure if you want, but it is no more miraculous than anything else that your body does during the course of an average day.

For more information about the philosophy, click on natural Peyronie’s disease treatment.

Peyronie’s disease treatment using drug injection into the delicate tunica of the penis is a medical therapy that is fast loosing favor.  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 a 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 disease treatment.  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 PDI 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.

Every day I talk to men who are have taken control of their Peyronies disease situation and are helping their PD when nothing else has helped them. They do it all of this with the information found only on this site.

What we propose at PDI is not so earth shattering or extreme in concept. We simply try to help you figure out why your Peyronie’s plaque did not heal or self-correct like the 50% of men whose Peyronie’s disease goes away on its own. If half of the men naturally “cured” their own Peyronie’s desease, why not you?  That is all we are attempting to accomplish with our therapy concept. It is really not so far out as some of the other things you find on the Internet.

Three simple things to get Peyronie’s help:

1. Learn about your Peyronies problem. You were told nothing, or next to nothing, about Peyronies disease by the doctor who gave you the diagnosis. You are on the internet right now looking for answers, so get them in a special book I wrote, called “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook.” This book gives you all the information about day-to-day treating and living with Peyronie’s disease you will need. The information found in this book is different in many ways than the information on our website; there is no duplication of information between the book and the website. Another book that will help you tremendously is “Peyronie’s Disease & Sex” that covers all aspects of this complex subject. Get help through education.

2. Start the most aggressive therapy plan you are comfortable following so that you will get your best results. If you are interested in doing all that you can to help yourself, then perhaps you could consider using what is called the “Large (Best) Plan” for personal treatment. The “Medium (Better) Plan” is perhaps the most popular of the three plans. There is a “Small (Good) Plan” that is also well designed. It is very common for men to substitute Neprinol in place of the two smaller products, Nattokinase and Serrapeptase in any of the plans. These products and plans are found at http://peyronies-disease-help.com/buy.html All can be modified, by subtracting or adding, to suit your personal thinking about Peyronie’s disease treatment.

Or, you can design your own therapy plan using the information found on this website. You do not have to use any of these model plans, they are only examples – but they make sense and they have helped hundreds of men improve their Peyronies plaque and reduce the bent penis of Peyronie’s disease.

3. Stop being discouraged.  Sign up for the Peyronie’s Disease Treatment Forum blog and get motivated, inspired, educated and reminded that everyday men around the world are actually beating their Peyronies problem using the Alternative Medicine methods of the Peyronie’s Disease Institute.

As you will soon see, the PDI website is full of exciting and helpful research information about Peyronie’s disease treatment you have never seen before. You will also see this site is different because it gives you the answers you have been looking for. But you must work along with the PDI guidelines in order to get the kind of results you will read about.

We strongly suggest you get all of your therapy products and supplements from PDI. The products we use have been selected after years of experimentation because they are special, and a prime reason for the results our customers receive. The PDI therapy concept and strategy are built around the therapy products available from PDI, and no others. Peyronie’s Disease Institute only uses what are called “pharmaceutical grade” products, which are of a higher quality and purity level, and pass rigorous tests to guarantee that what is on the label is contained in each capsule. Time and again we see that when men switch over to PDI products and follow our instructions, good things start to happen. Our therapy products have been used successfully in hundreds of treatment programs. Most people understand that it is a poor time to experiment and sample bargain products while they are attempting to repair a serious health problem like Peyronie’s disease.

With over 31,000 nutritional products available on the worldwide market, this subject is confusing. Many of them – more than you would believe – do not contain what they are supposed to contain. They have far fewer – or none – of the nutrients you need to do the big job in front of you.

PDI cannot answer your questions or help you with your therapy plan if we do not have knowledge, experience or confidence with “foreign” therapies. On the PDI website we clearly state, “Sorry, but due to the volume of emails PDI receives and with limited hours available in a day, we can only answer questions from PDI customers. Purchase your therapy products only from PDI so you have full access to the vast experience and careful assistance available to our customers. If you purchase inferior grade or questionable bargain products elsewhere, you will have to rely upon that source for whatever help you might need later.”

Please email me any questions you might have about treatment of PD with Alternative Medicine, I will be happy to help you in any way that I can.   info@peyronies-diseae-help.com.

While I spend a good part of my day communicating with men about Peyronie’s disease treatment, I also am asked frequent questions by men who are unsure if they even have Peyronies.

One of the common vexing questions is, “If that lump or bump on my bent penis is not Peyronies disease, what else could it be?”

The truth of the matter is that it is difficult to answer this question because it often just opens up a large door of possibilities since many conditions can cause a penile lump.  This, of course, starts many questions about a curved penis.  To prevent the eruption of a long list of questions from this one particular question, I will not go into much discussion about the various problems and conditions that can be mistaken for Peyronie’s disease.

The real value of this kind of list of possible conditions that can cause,  contribute, or be associated with or confused with a bump or lump on the penis is one of simple recognition.  If you already recognize you have one or two health problems that you personally have been dealing with or one or two health problems that are present within your family history, then seeing it mentioned in this list will alert you to the possible connection between these two your penile problem and this other problem.

This list is not meant to be an education about any of these problems, just a way to offer possibilities other than Peyronie’s disease.

Conditions that sometimes can contribute to, cause, or be associated with  lumps and bumps within the penis, but not Peyronie’s disease, are:

1. Congenital curvature of the penis – you were just born that way
2. Penile dorsal vein thrombosis
3. Local trauma
4. Acute penile fracture
5. Alcohol Abuse
6. Diabetes Mellitus
7. Tertiary Syphilis – a structure known as a Gumma, that develops late in the progression of this sexually transmitted disease
8. Scleroderma
9. Gouty tophi or nodules – important if you have a history of gout, or that you notice your penis nodules get worse during a bad episode of gout

10. Metastasis of cancer to the penis – very rare

11. Chordee with or without hypospadias

12. Ventral curvature secondary to urethral instrumentation

It is important that Peyronie’s treatment is directed toward the correct problem.  If you are unsure about the cause of your lump, bump or penis curvature it is important that you have your physician examine you for a competent medical examination.  After that, review the PDI website to learn as much as you can about the Alternative Medicine treatment of Peyronie’s disease.

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 urologic 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:

1. Pain – caused by inflammation and stretching of internal tissues in response to injury and distortion; can be present constantly or only during erection
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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 treatment for Peyronie’s disease since no drug is proven to eliminate the scar within the shaft.  The only accepted and available medical treatment is 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.”   He can be reached at http://www.peyronies-disease-help.com

The central issue of Peyronie’s disease is the infamous Peyronie’s plaque, also called a scar. Peyronie’s disease typically occurs in men between 40 and 65 years of age, although a range of 16 to 80 years is documented; some experts say it can occur at any age. From personal communication with a particular man, I was told that his own Peyronie’s disease was started after a dog bite to the groin – at the age of 10. Nonetheless, it is most important to recognize that all clinical signs and symptoms of Peyronie’s disease originate from the effects of the plaque upon the internal tissue layers (tunica albuginea) of the penis.

A developing Peyronie’s plaque appears in response to either micro-trauma to the small blood vessels from a single injury of great force, or multiple injuries of a small force. While there is strong evidence that genetic factors and drug factors also influence the start of PD, it is trauma that is usually considered to be the most likely cause of the Peyronies scar, or plaque.

A Peyronie’s plaque on the cellular level initially consists of fibrin threads deposited in a massive network throughout an area of injury within the tunica albuginea of the penis. Peyronie’s plaques, or scars, later combine the dense threads of fibrin connective tissue with reduced and fragmented elastic connective tissue fibers, as well as excessive amounts of type III collagen material, which happens to be specially inclined to excessive scar development. In about one-third of chronic cases of Peyronie’s disease, calcification of the plaque can occur over time. For more technical information about the Peyronies plaque, please go to http://peyronies-disease-help. com/ peyroniespathology.html

The curvature of the Peyronies penis is due to the fact that scar tissue does not stretch as easily or as fully as healthy normal tissue. The normal tunica albuginea is composed of elastin fibers and collagen, although the site of scar tissue from Peyronie’s disease is composed mostly of collagen. This difference in composition of these two tissues is what causes a bent penis to develop during erection.

Eventually as one or more Peyronie’s plaques develop into a mass of hardened tissue in the delicate tunica albuginea, it results in variable pain and penile distortion that most often takes the form of a bend or curve; sexual function is often reduced as a result of direct or indirect affects of Peyronie’s disease, also. The penile curvature of Peyronie’s disease is caused by the dense inelastic scar, or plaque, material that shortens the involved side of the tunica albuginea layer that covers the corpora cavernosa of the penis. In approximately one third of patients, the scarring involves either the top or bottom portion of the penis shaft, occasionally both. The lateral sides of the penis can also be affected by Peyronie’s plaque development, if that area experiences injury.

Peyronie’s plaque not easy to find sometimes

In some men the Peyronies plaque is easily found on manual examination, in others it is found with difficulty, and in some men no Peyronies plaque is ever located. It can be frustrating to have a wicked penis distortion, and still not be able to locate the Peyronie’s plaque.

To locate the plaque or scar material a light and inquisitive touch is most effective. Do not be heavy-handed, or press down into the deeper layers to find the Peyronie’s plaque material, because it is found just below the surface of the skin. And, oh yes, you will never directly see the plaque or scar, since it is not on the surface of the skin, but below. Make peace with the Peyronie’s plaque and do not hate it, just determine how to assist your body to remove it.

To learn about using Alternative Medicine to increase your ability to heal and repair the Peyronie’s plaque, a good place to start is the PDI website at http://peyronies-disease-help.com/ treatmentintroduction.html

Best Peyronie’s Treatment

Every week, without fail, some poor guy who just learned he has PD will write an email to me asking, “What is the best one of all the Peyronie’s disease therapies PDI uses?” it is a common question, and a good one.

The best way to treat Peyronie’s disease is with everything you can throw against it.  It is that kind of problem.

There is no one therapy that is a magic bullet. There are no wonder cures, no nifty little tricks that will get you a larger penis and somehow this is a Peyronie’s disease treatment.

Each person must educate himself about the problem, read about the different Alternative Medicine therapies and what they can do, determine if there are any indictors that one or more might be indicated, and then consider time, effort and cost. Lastly, it is necessary to determine how important it is to you to regain your health. Based on all this, a man should feel comfortable with a plan of action he can follow for several months as he goes about doing all he can to improve his body’s ability to heal and repair the injury of PD.

Those men who get good results with their Peyronie’s disease are the tough SOBs who just keep going after it day after day with as much therapy as they can afford to use, until they seem to wear the fibrous tissue down. Slowly they gain on it, with the scar(s) becoming softer and smaller; slowly they come around. Some get fantastic results and some get only moderate results – few who work hard at it do poorly. There usually is progress to be made if you work at it.

So, again, “What is the best way to treat Peyronie’s disease?” I would say the answer is that you do all that you can for as long as you can until your body overwhelms the Peyronies plaque tissue. To do less than that is to allow Peyronie’s disease to ruin your life.

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.

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 http://peyronies-disease-help.com/penis-stretching.html