I was recently asked the question in a PM of why would I, as someone who seems so pleased with his implant and who generally promotes implants as a great solution, wait 15 years to get an implant. I typically do NOT answer Peyronies Disease or
Erectile Dysfunction questions by PM for several reasons. I made an exception because this member was trying to avoid debate or even distraction with other members jumping in. I am paraphrasing, but he wondered if it was ignorance, satisfaction with other solutions, or psychological rejection that I had to overcome. After typing my reply, I wanted other readers with the same question to be able to read my response. I was undecided if I should post this as its own topic or add it to my journal. I decided I would post as its own topic then add it to my journal later.
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Great question! I wish you had asked me on the open forum since there are probably others that have the same question. With sixteen thousand members, I have a policy of answering only PMs related to forum operation and not
Erectile Dysfunction or Peyronies Disease. I will make an exception for.....(reasons that are part of a private discussion)
The answer is a combination of many things. Some of them you identified.
In the beginning, immediately after a prostatectomy, I used injections. The plan given to me by the rather well known Dr. Mulhall was that this was actually rehabilitation to keep my penis functioning and help with recovery since I supposedly had nerve-sparing surgery. I was confident this would happen since I was absolutely unstoppable in the erection department before surgery. Due to some combination of arrogance and ignorance, I could not even conceive that I could have
Erectile Dysfunction long term. At that point, injections worked perfectly. I am not squeamish about needles, and the shots were painless. I felt I could do injections for life if needed because the results were great. After eight months, I developed Peyronies Disease. It was enough for me to go against Dr. Mulhall's advice to keep injecting. I relied on Viagra and/or
VED, and got satisfactory results but not as nice as injections. I did not like the prep time and the mechanics, but the erections were fine. For two years, I held out hope that my erectile ability would return since I was starting to get some barely usable erections at eight months right before Peyronies Disease first hit. I was also starting to get some morning erections.
The Peyronies Disease killed the progress I had made with erections. At two years I pretty much intellectually accepted that it was never coming back, but frankly, even then it was just difficult to believe. I could write a long story (and have) about years later still reaching down to see if I had an erection when I was aroused and always somehow expecting that maybe one would be there. I am guessing I was at least three years in before I even knew about implants. The idea was vague; I knew nothing about them, no idea who did them, no clue what it would be like to have one. I think it just sounded drastic, unnatural, and extreme. I was prejudiced, so I never worked to find out anything about them. To me, it was almost like they did not exist because I never even casually considered one. For the next several years, I had fair results with
VED, Rings, Viagra, and
l-arginine (sometimes stacked on top of Viagra). I have a very stable, intimate, relationship with my wife, and while things were not what they were, it was not bad. I gradually grew to accept this "new normal."
JackP's posts (the 1st man to post the only journal of an implant on our forum) started getting my attention on our the forum and I began to at least think about the idea and do some minor research. Somewhere in my reading, I read that men often complain about size loss and that the glans is left totally
flaccid. I read about the nightmare of infection and the false information that the surgeon removes all the tissue from the cavernosa. Since I had already lost more than an inch from Peyronies Disease and since I got bulging erections with an engorged glans with a
VED/viagra I felt it would be spending money and taking a risk when the best outcome was less than I had. Other than JackP, there was little to no discussion on the topic on our forum. If it came up, most guys speculated and predicted negative outcomes. I never looked further.
A couple of years before my implant my
Erectile Dysfunction worsened so a
VED combined with
L-Arginine and a cock ring in combination never worked as it often had. I always needed the
VED and sometimes I would have to re-pump in the middle of a very active session. The truth was that when I took Viagra, it was contributing next to nothing to the process. Next, I got a small hernia from the
VED drawing fat (I am reasonably lean) or other tissue into the one side of the base of my penis when under vacuum. It did not hurt, but the tempory bulge was concerning. Combined with my worsening
Erectile Dysfunction, I knew I was ready to risk whatever I had to risk to have a healthy, active sex life back. I researched more extensively and went to another forum. I found Dr. Eid's and Dr. Kramer's sites. I talked to a couple of guys on the phone who had implants. I met two men at Dr. Eid's office. One of them was 80 years old and had a similar history to mine. He was in great shape and said he and his wife used the implant 400 times the first year. Both men were ecstatic with the results, and I saw first hand how natural their penises looked.
As everyone knows, I had the surgery. The result was size gain over my presurgery size with a
VED. We experienced spontaneity like we had not known for over a decade and firm, lasting erections in any position. Simply stated, the results were so good I felt like a fool. How ironic that I had founded and been the administrator of the largest forum in the world for Peyronies Disease and led discussions on our
Erectile Dysfunction board. Yet, I had missed what now seems like the obvious solution. I think the rest is pretty much found in the first few posts of my Implant Journal.
I know I seem to be on a soapbox at times. I plead guilty to that but I don't want others to look past this like I did. I also don't want to feel responsible for giving the impression that we are the forum where patients can become educated about options and stupidly omit what is undeniably the very best option for many men. I honestly think it is likely a better option for a deformity than Nesbit or grafting when a deformity is present even without
Erectile Dysfunction, although I do not promote that unless asked.
I hope this answers your question.
Cheers
PS: I add here that the delay process was no doubt lengthened because I am almost obsessive about researching facts. I have been known to make charts and graphs with the ingredients of different house paints when choosing a brand. One canoe outfitter used to refer customers with questions to me because I researched canoe design and materials and knew them better than the store owner before I bought my canoe.