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All About The Penis Peyronie's diseaseAll About The Penis Home PageIt sounds horrible, doesn't it? Peyronie's disease. I mean, isn't a disease something like measles, scarlet fever, or worse? Something you can catch from someone else? How can a bent penis be a disease? I guess it's only a disease in the sense that there is tissue damage, but since this is not contagious and only causes inconvenience to the guy with the problem, it still seems a harsh description. I suggest we just call it Peyronie's from now on. If you have a bent penis, or a partner with a bent penis, you, or he, may have Peyronie's. Now, some penises bend naturally as soon as they start growing and getting regularly erect at adolescence. In fact, a curvy penis is not at all unusual, so the fact that your member curves upwards like a banana or downwards like a scimitar does not in itself diagnose Peyronie's. (There's some great information on penis size and shape at The-penis.com The key thing about Peyronie's is that there is some degree of tissue damage to the internal structure of the penis, which results in the formation of a calcified plaque on the wall of the erectile chambers. This bit of calcified tissue, being hard and non-stretchy, means that the penis cannot become erect in the same way in all parts of the internal chambers - and the result is the characteristic bend which defines the condition. Here's some information from a friend of mine with a bendy penis: " I was diagnosed with Peyronie's four years ago when my penis, apparently overnight, took on a sharp lean to the left - but only when it was erect. In fact, what happened was that the head began to bend down at the left hand side, as though it was attached inside the penis with a cord that was pulling it down. When I investigated I felt a small lump under the skin, which turned out to be the calcified lump of tissue causing the shortening on the side of my cock. It was near the glans, so the effect is a bit like a lop-sided penis, with the head leaning down. Although the lump inside the penis tissue is getting bigger, it hasn't caused a distinct bend - and I hope it never does, because God knows how some of the guys I have spoken to with the problem ever have sex! I've seen penises shaped like the letter J or C - the latter having two bends in it in opposite directions. Most of these guys are too terrified to have surgery, which seems odd to me - if that happened to me I wouldn't hesitate to go under the knife." Ah yes, I thought, when I heard him say that, it's easy to say that when you don't need surgery - but what if you're actually faced with the choice of having your penis cut open, the faulty tissue extracted and then stitched up on the one hand, versus no penetrative sex but still being able to enjoy masturbation and oral sex on the other? A hard choice indeed, particularly when you've seen the operation performed. The surgical option is actually the only one which really works, though those enterprising medics have tried some other stuff, like directing ultrasonic beams at the calcified lump in the hope that it will break up (they do the same thing to kidney stones, only with more success). I once witnessed an operation on a rather large penis with a ninety degree bend in it, during the course of which the surgeon actually snapped the calcified lump in two like a twig. Ouch! The crack reverberated around the operating theatre....and the problem is that once the penis is stitched up again, the erectile chambers may leak a bit (i.e. you have a floppy erection); and since you can't chop out part of the erectile tissue on one side without leaving a bend, they have to shorten the other side to match, which means you end up with a penis that is shorter but hopefully straight. It's a bit of a problem, and there's no easy answer. Back to my friend: "The doctor told me that for as long as my penis actually felt painful at the site of the lump, the lump was still growing. I asked him when it would stop growing, and he said there was no way of knowing. Then I asked him if there was anything that would help, and he murmured something about some people thinking Vitamin E helped, but he didn't believe it did. He then added that he didn't think any of the other treatments worked either. It was at this point that I began to feel a bit desperate. And the truth is, you have to learn to live with it. At the very least if you want to look into some medical treatment, you need to find an absolute expert on the condition. It isn't something you can leave to the run of the mill urologist who isn't up-to-date with the latest research findings." So, to make sure you are up-to-date, have a look at some of these references before you see your doctor: Peyronie's Sex Education Want to have sex with a bent penis? Look here for support and possibly some answers. Peyronie's Disease Help The man behind this site claims to have cured his Peyronie's with alternative therapy. Here's a link to a basic introduction to Peyronie's. Bear in mind those guys are talking about penile implants - the very very last resort for a guy who not only has Peyronie's but is impotent as well. Many guys actually don't need any treatment at all, and in some the condition spontaneously resolves itself. Verapamil is one substance used to treat this condition, but I think it's true to say the jury is still out on whether or not it works in all cases. It's less likely to work the harder the plaque of tissue in the penis has become. The respected Mayo clinic has this to say about it. And just to prove they're right, here's another medical site. The most detailed information may come from the book listed here, but it is probably only useful to fanatics or doctors. Mind you, having a bent willy may make you a fanatic. Now, knowing the medics can't cure it is all very well, but what about the problem of living with it? Well, my friend tells me that he only found relief when he joined a support group, so here are a few web addresses: |
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