


DIagnosIs of PeyronIe’s DIsease
How Is PeyronIe’s treated? When does It requIre surgery?
It’s necessary to know the stage of the disease first for the treatment. The disease has two stages. During the first one, instabile period which is called “active phase, acute inflammation stage”, the patient feels pain during erection. There is a plaque in the penis and a slight curvature is in question. This stage continues around 12-18 months.
In the second and stabile period called “chronic inflammation stage”, the disease is certain. This is the period when an obvious curvature on the penis is seen, problems regarding erection occur and plaque size doesn’t change.
Knowing the stage of the disease is significant in terms of treatment selection. Because it has been reported that in some of the patients, the symptoms can disappear by itself and in 50% of them the disease progressed.
If the patients applying with the symptoms of Peyronie’s are in their active period, mostly oral medications and injection treatments to prevent the progress of curvature are preferred. These patients move to the chronic stage approximately in 1 year. In the patients whose pain disappeared during the chronic period, the only reasons for treatment is the difficulty in sexual life due to the fixed angle and that the curvature creates a problem between the partners. Preferred treatment during this period is surgery.
In this type of treatment, medication is directly inject in the penile plaque and is an alternative to the oral treatment. This is called intralesional injection. It’s a more popular treatment option among the male individuals who don’t want to have operation or are in the early stage of the disease.
-Clostridial collagenase (collagenase clostridium) injection: Significant elimination of curvature angle, plaque width and length has been observed during intrelesional treatment. (This medication is not used in our country yet.)
Various alternatives techniques such as cortisone injection into the plaque, shock waves from outside the body (debatable for fixing the curvature and reducing plaque size. However, may reduce the pain.), penile traction and vacuum devices (in order to prevent the penis from shortening in size) are also used.
SurgIcal Treatments
It’s applied during the stabile period of the disease and on the patients who can’t benefit from the medications. Additionally, if the curvature is more than 45 degrees, patient has erection disorder and there is certain shortening in the size of penis, then the surgical treatment is considered first.
Surgical treatment of Peyronie’s disease includes fixing the penile curvature surgically and placing penile implant for the patients with erection problem along with Peyronie’s. Conditions which are determined as surgical treatment criteria are as follows;
• Severe penile curvature existed for more than one year,
• Penile curvature or erection problem progresses and is stabile for the last 3 months,
• Presence of penile curvature in a level affecting sexual intercourse
• Advanced shortening of penis.
Penile implant is conducted typically on patients who have erection problems along with Peyronie’s and have vascular failure.
PenIle Implant OperatIons
It’s conducted on patients who have erection problems along with Peyronie’s disease. Only implant would be enough for the patients whose penile curvature is a slight one. If this doesn’t fix the curvature, an additional operation to cut the plaque and cover the area depending on the size of plaque might be required.
Today, in developed countries, typically 3 part inflatable penile implants are preferred. After the procedure of 3 part penile implant, satisfaction of the patient and his sexual partner can go up to 90%.
Operations can be conducted under general or regional (spinal/epidural) anaesthesia.
B. ) CONGENITAL PENILE CURVATURE (INHERENT)
While the patients apply with the complaints regarding difficulty in sexual intercourse, having sexual intercourse in some specific positions and pain in their or their partner’s body during sexual intercourse, some of the patients apply with the idea that the curvature may affect their sexual life without experiencing any problems. Diagnosis is established by observing the curvature through physical examination during erection (or its photo is requested from the patient)
Congenital penile curvature is the curvature of the penis on one side inherently. This penis is typically normal or longer than usual. Patients apply to us for the treatment especially in their 20s when they become sexually active and they notice.
If the curvature is more than 30 degrees and is preventing sexual intercourse or if the appearance is disturbing even though there are no functional problems, then this curvature is corrected.
Correction operations are generally conducted by shortening the longer (convex) side since the penis is long. This operation is conducted under general or spinal anesthesia. Since the penile skin is opened through the foreskin area, it doesn’t leave any marks or scars. The patient can be released on the same day with the operation and can go back to his routine the next day. For the healing of the scars, patient shouldn’t have any sexual intercourse for a period between 4-6 weeks.
WIll PenIle Curvature Go Away?
Penile curvature is a rare condition that can heal spontaneously. However, the rate of spontaneous disappearance of this condition, likely to be seen in many men, is meagre. Nonetheless, improvement can be seen at later ages, especially in congenital curvature conditions.
What Is Normal PenIle Curvature?
If penile curvature types range from 5 degrees to 30 degrees, then a normal curvature condition exists. In case of curvature above 30 degrees, there is a problem. In other words, only some curvature conditions should be seen as a sign of disease. It would be more beneficial to consult a specialist physician in such a case.
Is PenIle Curvature SerIous?
One of the biggest problems in the curvature condition is the pain felt during sexual activity. This situation adversely affects the sexual relations of the patient. In some cases, the patient may not even be able to engage in sexual activity. Therefore, in case of more than 30 degrees curvature, you should consult specialist physicians.
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