Guys with Peyronie’s disease notice an unnatural curvature to their penis when it is erect. When the penis is flaccid this curvature may not be noticeable.
Most guys have never heard of Peyronie’s disease when they encounter this condition. To see their penis suddenly bending can be quite shocking and upsetting. It affects relationships and in the worst cases can make sexual intercourse virtually impossible.
Peyronies disease goes through two phases, known as an acute phase and a chronic phase.
In the acute phase, there is often pain during an erection and the start of bending of the penis. The penis may bend upwards towards the body, or left or right. In this acute phase, the patient can just wait and see how the disease develops over the following nine to twelve months before it enters the chronic phase.
However, there is the option to try conservative treatments in this acute phase to attempt to limit the extent of the curvature and promote the healing of the damaged tissues.
This conservative treatment may consist of therapies such as tadalafil medication which oxygenates the penis by encouraging blood flow. This helps in the healing process. Alongside tadalafil, other therapies include a vacuum pump and traction device to help with the remodeling of the penis. It cannot be determined how much these therapies will help, time will tell, but in the acute phase, there is evidence that they do help and patients generally feel better that they are making an effort to improve the situation.
When the disease enters the chronic phase then an assessment will need to be made of the extent and impact of the curvature. If the conservative therapies have helped, it might be that the patient can live with a moderate degree of curvature without any major impact on their sexual performance. If however, the curvature has worsened over the previous year, surgery will need to be considered to make the penis straight again. Indeed in significant curvature, this is really the only option. The NHS carries out a procedure known As ‘The Nesbit procedure’ which will straighten the penis but leave it shorter than before. Now there are more advanced procedures available privately that straighten the penis whilst protecting its length. Such procedures include the so-called ‘Stage Technique’ and ‘plaque incision and grafting’.
If the penis is left untreated at the chronic phase with a significant curvature, there is a risk of a penile fracture.