BackgroundI am a 60 year old Indian male. I developed the problem 2 years ago in the first half 2019. I discovered it when I woke up one day with a hardon but there was a bend, and I could feel a hard scar/
plaque about the size of a nickel somewhere between the base and the middle of the penis. The size and shape of the
plaque has not changed since then. This points to penile injury being the possible cause. I can’t remember any incident from the past where the penis hurt. So, I am not 100% sure it is penile injury.
I was able to have vaginal sex then although I started feeling the erections were not as strong. I checked out a lot of material including this forum. I looked into a lot of potential treatments that are out there, and many of them have varying records of success. For example, I tried
DMSO/Iodine. I tried herbal pills that provide improved blood flow. Some of the treatments helped with the blood flow and helped keep the sex life and erections going. Over time, the erections became weaker. Fast forward 2 years I could get only weak erections, and I could only cum through blow jobs. It was not easy to have vaginal sex for more than a minute. The erection would deflate from the pain.
I went to see Dr. Karpman around Oct of 2019. He injected the erection inducing medicine. He felt the
plaque. He did the ultrasound. He said the bend was 40 degrees with calciified/hard
plaque, and there was hour glassing. He suggested two possible treatments - a)
Xiaflex, or b) Excision/Grafting plus implant. His preferred treatment for me was excision/grafting plus an implant. In his experience, only excision/grafting had poor results as the healing of the excision/graft area needed a lot of discipline and hard work from the patient to have erections so the healing happened in the right way. He said he would do
Xiaflex if I wanted to try a non surgical method, but he warned that
Xiaflex has poor results against calcified/hard plaques (he said there are studies on this). I went home dazed, realizing that nothing I tried worked so far, and the logically the only option left appeared to be surgery. I was also concerned that a surgeon would obviously recommend a surgical option, and I wanted to make my decision in a careful manner. I wanted to think more about this. I sat on the problem after that for 2 years (part of it due to wanting to avoid procedures when covid was rampant), and realized around August 2021 that I need to make the moves to solve this problem I went back to see Dr. Karpman again, and discussed the options again. Finally, I decided to go with surgery.
Takeaway: Go see a good urologist ASAP when you have a problem. Time is not going to make the situation better. Hope is not an answer.Pre Surgery Discussion with the SurgeonThis meeting happened 8 days before the surgery.
I was able to talk to a forum member prior to this meeting, and realized that there were 2 viable surgery options actually:
1. Excision/Grafting with Implant
2. Implant only..if the penis straightens
3. Excision/Grafting without Implant (this appeared to have a very high chance of failure given it required).
I discussed options 1 and 2 with Dr. Karpman, and we agreed that he will do the implant first, and if the penis has less than a 10 degree bend, to not do the excision/grafting. If the bend was more than 10 degrees, I asked him to go ahead with the excision/grafting. He did warn me that he prefers option 1, and option 2 is not totally clean as the
plaque will still be there. He was not sure how the
plaque will behave in the future, and if it will cause pain (erection, intercourse, etc.).Dr. Karpman also mentioned that he will keep me overnight in the hospital. He also said he was going to use Coloplast,and that the Boston Scientific LGX 700 was not a fit for my situation (I am not able to recollect the reason).
Takeaway: Some of the people on this forum know quite a lot. There is a lot of information on this forum. Educate yourself and you will make the right decision for yourself.(I cannot emphasize enough the tremendous service some of the forum members like Hawk provide. They take so much of their personal time to help out the rest of us that have run into this problem)Pre Surgery Preparations at HomeI made sure I cleaned all surfaces in the kichen, bedroom, living room and bathroom with Lysol spray. I sprayed the sofa with the same spray, and also ensured I was going to use clean sheets, towels and clothes. This was to reduce the chance of any infection post surgery. I will keep following this routine after I come back from surgery.
Takeaway: Do everything you have to do to reduce the chances of an infection.Day 1 - Day of SurgeryI went to the hospital and checked in. I spoke with Dr. Karpman briefly, and was taken into the OR. I came out of anesthesia possibly 3 hours later. Dr. Karpman came by to say the surgery went well, and that the penis had a very small bend with the implant inserted. So, he did not do the excision/grafting. The pain was severe in the area of the surgery, and I made sure I took as much pain medicine as I was allowed during my time at the hospital. The pain was quite severe, and I felt depressed thinking this was what was in store for me the next 3 weeks. (Fortunately, it did not turn out that way)
Day 2 - Day of DischargeThey removed the catheter, the bandage around the penis, the blood drain from the wound, etc. in the morning.The catheter removal was painful, but not as painful as I had imagined given some of the implant journeys I read.
Dr. Karpman came in the morning and spent some time explaining that I have to put in the hard work now. He was going to send me 70% inflated, and asked that I do the following important things till I see him in a week
1. Hot tub soaking at least 2 times a day for 30 mins starting Day 5. This was so there was increased blood flow to the area of surgery and around, and this would lead to better healing. (Please note that they used ice packs on Day 1 and Day 2 to reduce the
inflammation from the surgery.
So, it appears there is a switchover point and time between reducing inflammation through ice packs and improved healing through heat. If anybody has any opinion on this, please comment)
2. Pulling down on the implant apparatus in the scrotum without activating the inflation/deflation to ensure that the implant apparatus settles/heals at the bottom of the scrotum (2 times a day)
3. Post the 1 week post op visit, he said I would need to cycle the erections 2 times a day for 30 min.
I was discharged around noon, and the drive home was 1 hr. and painful with the bumps in the road causing pain. Based on this experience, I believe that a long road trip home may not be a good idea this soon after a surgery. I think it would be better to stay at a hotel nearby for a couple of days. It is probably a good idea to avoid any additional physical trauma in the immediate aftermath of the surgery.
Day 3I had a lot of pain. I took the opioid pain killers to manage the pain (maximum allowed by the prescription..4 per day).
Day 4I showered as this was allowed starting this day. Pain came down as well. I was down to 2 opioid pain pills for the day.
Day 5There is slight pain, bordering more on the discomfort side. I did not take any pain medicines today. Also, did hot tub soaking today. I am able to walk up and down the stairs. I did some walking inside the house on one level.
(More to follow)