Mens sexual health:
Post-surgical treatment
for penile shortening prevention.
Surgery often have side effects, one of which is scar retraction. As the name implies, this is when the surgery results in a scar, and as this scar heals, the area around it shrinks.
Whereas scar retraction is not a problem in most surgeries, it becomes a serious problem in prostatic surgery because the body part that eventually shrinks is the penis.
Usually, penile shortening takes place after any of the following surgeries:
- Prostate cancer surgery in T1 or T2 phases.
- Curvature correction surgery.
- Peyronie's disease correctional surgery.
(Most cases resulted up to 3 cm shortening according to scientific studies.)
- Surgery for traumatic lesions to the penis.
- Urethral narrowing correction surgery.
- Penis enlargement surgery.
- Penile implant surgery.
- Bladder related surgeries for bladder cancer, urinary incontinence, and surgery to heal traumatic lesions to the bladder.
All of the surgeries listed above commonly cause penile shortening.
An effective alternative to prevent penis retraction after a prostatic surgery is by using Andropenis®. By keeping a constant force of traction on the penis, pulling it outwards, it prevents scar retraction from pulling the penis inwards and shortening it.
Managing penile shortening after Peyronie’s disease surgery.
Author Block:
Ignacio Moncada-Iribarren*, Jose Jara, Juan Ignacio, Martinez-Salamanca, Ramiro Cabello, Carlos Hernandez.
Abstract:
Loss of penile length is a common complaint of patients undergoing surgical correction of penile curvature for Peyronie’s (PD) disease.
Penile extenders have been developed to increase penile length by regular application on the penis based on their tissue expansion properties. We assessed the value, in terms of increasing penile length, of the application of a penile extender (Andropenis ®) in men who have undergone tunica albuginea plication or grafting for PD.
We also studied the impact of this treatment on the health related quality of life (HRQoL)
Methods:
40 men, aged between 54 - 64 (mean 58 y.o.), undergoing PD surgery constituted the study population;
12 patients were submitted to a grafting procedure while the rest (n=28) undergone a plication technique.
20 consecutive patients were treated with a penile extender device (Andropenis ®) while the previous 20 served as a control group.
The extender was applied when the circumcision had healed (2 to 3 weeks after surgery) with a traction force of 900 to 1200 gr 8 to 12 hours daily during at least 4 months.
Parameters studied were penile length before, after surgery and after the continued use of the device.
HEQoL using the SF-36 questionnaire was also assessed to compare both groups of patients.
Results:
Penile shortening after surgery ranged from 0.5 cm to 4 cm. Shortening was slightly less relevant in patients undergoing a grafting procedure but this difference was not statistically significant.
Treatment with the device produced a length increase ranging from 1 to 3 cm, this increase was proportional to the number of hours per month the patient was using the extender.
There were significant differences in several of the SF-36 parameters in the patients under the device when compared to those not using the extender (p<O.OO1).
Four patients had to reduce the time of application of the extender because of moderate pain in the circumcision wound; no other side effects were reported.
Conclusions:
Our study suggests that the use of a continuous penile stretching device (Andropenis ®) is a effective and safe approach to minimize penile length in patients undergoing PD surgery. Its use produces an improvement in QoL parameters when compared to a control group.
Author Disclosure Block:
I. Moncada-Iribarren, American Medical Systems, Inc.
M; Bayer HealthCare C,
M, S; Ipsen C, I, S; Pfizer Inc C, M, S; Lilly ICOS, LLC C, I, S; J. Jara, None; J. Martinez-Salamanca,
None; R. Cabello, None; C. Hernandez, None.
