Men with Peyronie’s disease usually receive implants when other treatments are ineffective.
Severn Herro, MD, assistant professor of urology at Mayo Clinic University of Medicine and Science in Rochester, Minnesota, says the ideal candidate is a man who:
- Inability to get or maintain an erection strong enough for sex
- Other treatments such as injection therapy, medications, suction machines, and stretching devices have not been effective.
- Healthy enough to undergo simple surgery
- Have realistic expectations about the results of your implants and how they work.
“The best candidates for penile implants are not men who seek perfection,” says Dr. Herault. “It’s the humans who understand what implants can actually achieve and are ready to tackle it.”
The goal of the surgery is to not only reduce the curvature, but also to create a pain-free, functionally straight erection.
But if you have Peyronie’s disease and have other diseases or factors that affect wound healing or increase your risk of post-surgery infection, you may not be a good candidate for a penile implant, says Dennis Assaf Adjei, MD, MPH, director of men’s health and male reproductive medicine at the University of Chicago. These may include:
- immunity is weakened
- obesity
- smoking
- poorly controlled diabetes
- mental health issues
- urinary problems
“Patients need to understand the effects of penile implant insertion, as changes in the penis that occur can be permanent,” says Dr. Assaf Adjei.
