Up Until This New Technology?
Nothing Worked with Healing Peyronie’s Disease
Generally speaking, urologists treat Peyronie’s disease.
Up until now, no medical therapy has been proven effective for the treatment of Peyronie’s disease.
Surgical treatment may be an option for some patients, although complications as well as loss of penile length are common outcomes.
A wide variety of treatments have been used over the years in an attempt to arrest the pain and symptoms associated with Peyronie’s Disease with limited success. These treatments include including: Radiation, Verapamil, Collagenase (Xiaflex), Interferon, Traction Devices, Iontophoresis, Surgery, Implants, plus varied Topical Applications, Vitamin E and Herbal Remedies.
However, as just explained, there are no medicinal products approved for the treatment of Peyronie’s disease. There are very few prospective, blinded, randomized and controlled studies with standardized outcomes of sufficient power conducted to date to evaluate the proposed medicinal therapies.
Traditional Peyronie’s Disease Treatment
Oral Medications
Oral vitamin E: An antioxidant that is a popular treatment for acute stage Peyronie’s disease because of its mild side effects and low cost. While studies as far back as 1948 have demonstrated decreases in penile curvature and plaque size from vitamin E treatment, most of these studies have not used placebo controls. Those few studies of vitamin E that have included a placebo treatment group have demonstrated that vitamin E does not appear to give better results than the placebo, which calls into question whether or not vitamin E is an effective treatment.
Potassium amino-benzoate: Also known as Potaba. Small placebo controlled studies have shown that this B-complex substance popular in Central Europe yields some benefits with respect to plaque size, but not curvature. Unfortunately, it is somewhat expensive and use of the medication requires taking 24 pills a day for three to six months. This medication has also been associated with a high rate of stomach upset, which leads many men to stop taking it.
Tamoxifen: This non-steroidal, anti-estrogen medication has been used in the treatment of desmoid tumors, a condition with properties similar to Peyronie’s disease. Unfortunately, placebo controlled trials of this drug are rare and the few that have been conducted have not shown that Tamoxifen is better than placebo.
Colchicine: An anti-inflammatory agent that decreases collagen development. Colchicine has been shown to be slightly beneficial in a few small, uncontrolled studies. Many patients taking colchicine over the long term develop gastrointestinal problems and must discontinue the drug early in treatment. It has not been proven to be superior to placebo.
Carnitine: An antioxidant medication that is designed to reduce inflammation and thereby decrease abnormal wound healing. Like many other Peyronie’s therapies, uncontrolled trials have demonstrated some benefit to this treatment but a recent controlled trial has not demonstrated it to be superior to placebo.
Penile Injections
Injecting a drug directly into the plaque of Peyronie’s disease is a common form of treatment for Peyronie’s.
Two drug platforms have been used – each with limited success:
Verapamil
Verapamil is one of the most popular treatments, its injected directly into the plaque built up in the penis. Although it helps to soften this plaque in hopes of breaking it down – its just not strong enough to effectively treat anything but the mildest beginning cases.
Xiaflex
Collagenase is another popular injectable method that’s now usually done with the popular medication Xiaflex. Xiaflex is used only when the original curve is greater than 30 degrees – since that’s when major insurers will provide reimbursement as the drug is very expensive.
The launch of Xiaflex as a possible solution for Peyronies caused a stir during its launch in 2012. But a key researcher in the tests and trials that supported its introduction was more low-key. The results “are not overwhelming and dramatic,” said Dr. Culley C. Carson III, a professor of urology at the University of North Carolina and an investigator in the trial. But, he added, “it’s a major advantage over what we have now, which is nothing.”
Surgical Treatment of Peyronie’s Disease
Surgery for Peyronie’s is currently only indicated in the chronic, stable state of the disease in patients with a degree of curvature that does not allow for sexual intercourse and/or causes pain.
Surgery is used to completely remove the buildup of plaque within the penis but this is a last resort method. Peyronie’s Disease Surgery can have serious complications and side effects such as shortening of the penis and ED. Implants are another method to try and fix Peyronie’s Disease that involved surgery. Once again the complications and side effects are great and men should consider every other option before going down this road.
Long Term Peyronie’s Surgical Outcomes Less Positive Than Expected
A first-ever retrospective study on the long term efficaciousness of Peyronie’s disease completed in 2012 offered a dismal view on the success of such surgery with healing Peyronies. According to a recent retrospective study published by Florian Wimpissinger, MD, of the department of urology at Rudolfstiftung Hospital in Vienna, Austria in 2012 regarding the long term outcomes associated with PD surgery, results are anything but ideal.
After a mean of 9.3 years, the recurrence of postoperative curvature had increased from 0% after a mean of 38 months (18–73 months) to 23.7%, post-op erectile dysfunction increased from 3.0% to 39.5%, penile shortening from 0.0% to 65.8%, and impairment of penile sensitivity from 3% to 31.4%.
“We saw that results tend to worsen with time,” said Dr. Wimpissinger, who presented the study results at the 2011 European Association of Urology annual congress in Vienna. “Since these results were much better during the first months or few years following surgery, it can be assumed that all these aspects are caused by the chronic/recurring nature of PD,” Dr. Wimpissinger said.
“From what we found after many years of follow-up, all published data on the results of PD surgery have to be interpreted in a different light,” said Dr. Wimpissinger.
In other words?
Long-term results from surgery indicate the condition returns and becomes equally debilitating and painful.
Peyronie’s Disease Scam Treatments
Be skeptical of ads pills requiring no prescription that will somehow magically cure Peyronie’s?
There’s no such thing: period!
Peyronie’s Treatments that failed and/ or came up short of expectations, include: The limitations of Verapamil
An L-type phenylalkylamine class calcium channel blocker, of the type known generically as “Verapamil,” has long been used as a treatment for plaque decimation to treat Peyronie’s disease. We also use Verapamil during our treatment system. However, by itself? Verapamil is simply not powerful enough to dissolve plaque commonly found in Peyronie’s patients. It’s a support tool – not a solution.
Priapus® or P-Shots®
One of our most common ED “repair” projects stem from patients who’ve been getting Priapus® or “P-Shots®”. This treatment is commonly provided as the be-all for any penile issues: from Peyronie’s Disease to ED – and numerous providers cite extensive studies that support these amazing outcomes.
Where did it come from? A few years ago, the same entrepreneur who launched “The Vampire Facelift®” branded and launched his own version of platelet rich plasma injections as something novel and did a great job promoting this new marketing beast as something wonderful. Lots of cash-starved physicians and urologists were all to happy to provide this well marketed service. Worse still? Lots of other physicians tried hopping on this train wreck with their own even less developed approaches to platelet rich plasma injections.
Guess what?
Thus, it’s simply a branded, trademark protected and licensed inched novelty that’s helping cash-starved non-urologists make extra money.
Dr. Morganstern was one of the first urologists to test platelet rich plasma injections into the penis in the 1980’s. After extensive testing and research, he found results were not beneficial and presented the potential for penis trauma by injected a foreign material into the sensitive tissue (which can lead to Peyronie’s disease).
It does offer a short-lived “placebo effect” since the injection of your reconstituted blood temporarily adds increased girth and a sense of a harder penis. Alas, the potential for damage far outweighs this temporary outcome – not to mention the constant hit to your bank account.
None of the recognized urologic leaders in erectile dysfunction offer this service – for good reason.
Don’t fall for this treatment!
Simply stated: this shot is pretty much worthless and will probably eventually end up classified like most marketing gimmicks: a mistake.
The Failures of Surgery
A long-term retrospective follow-up of Peyronie’s disease patients who have undergone surgery for the condition reveals a rise in curvature recurrence as well as increased postoperative erectile dysfunction.
Simply stated: PD surgery usually results in a shorter penis and a strong likelihood of erectile dysfunction. This is but one reason less than 2% of all cases end up in surgery.
Surgery for PD is currently only indicated in the chronic, stable state of the disease in patients with a degree of curvature that does not allow for sexual intercourse and/or causes pain, the study’s authors pointed out.
The Meaningless Pills and Supplements
A quick glance from a Google search offers a myriad of worthless “cure with a pill” Peyronie’s treatment solutions designed to snag the uneducated guy. It’s wrong. It’s unfair. It’s a reality of the life and times we now live in.
There are no approved or proven pills to treat Peyronie’s disease. You can’t remove plaque with a pill: for the heart or the penis.
The limitations of Verapamil
The Disastrous “Snakeoil” Peyronie’s Treatments
One of the most challenging circumstances we’ve endured while healing patients with CurveFree™ technology is hearing the horror stories some men already endured trying new processes that didn’t work. The combined amount of time, money, and anguish endured from these failures is depressing. Worse still? Many of these same “solutions” ended up causing additional penis trauma resulting in worse curvature and additional plaque.