Does anyone worry that doing xiaflex shots may have long term effects that we don't know about yet. I'm wary about the injecting of chemicals into any part of the human body let alone the penis.
Also if for some stroke of good fortune the penis would have started to heal itself as we hear happens some times, would the injections be detrimental to that ever happening. ? Does xiaflex have a bad effect on the healthy living tissue ?
Did you find out: Does xiaflex have a bad effect on the healthy living tissue ?
Weigh the pros and the cons. A good uro should be able to help with facts. It's FDA approved, partially why it's so expensive. It's also been used to treat a medical condition of the hands before it was used for peyronie's.
My insurance pays it all...
But doctors seem to present themselfs as experts and than if you ask they have only used it ten times...
Find a better uro if you aren't comfortable with that. You can call the xiaflex company and ask for a list of registered drs and start making calls. There might be a search engine on their website as well.
Xiaflex is an enzyme, not really just a chemical. It is derived from a bacteria. It basically dissolves collagen. Since collagen is the structural building block of skin, tendons, ligaments, and many other body systems, it is used only locally. Scar tissue whether inside the penis, or on your face is collagen. When it us injected into the plaque, it weakens it and the stretching/traction breaks it apart. That allows normal healing. When Xiaflex leaks into the surrounding tissue, you get the bruising because it's working on the collagen in that area.
Basicly noone knows about long term effects...
The real risk is of penis fracture after the injection. Thus important to go to high volume skilled provider.
This leads to two questions:
1) does a penis fracture a occure on its own or is it caused by a small trauma (sex, masturbation,...)?
2) what can you/a doc do after a penis fracture ??
Peyronies is due to micro trauma, penis fracture to more major injury but can be st risk after injection. To avoid fracture after injection don't have sex for 3 weeks after injection and go to high volume doc who injects in the best possible location as the enzyme can destroy all tissue. If any pain, call doc right away. Fracture requires immediate medical attention-usually surgery.
I believe the half-life of collagenase to be very short. So, the only "long term" side-effects are gonna be the damage it will have done to surrounding tissue in the few hours/days it was active. And that basically depends on how good or bad your doctor is.