Transcript of Video
I’m Doctor Russell Libby with Northwoods Urology of Texas, and today we’re gonna be talking about Peyronie’s disease. As you may have seen on the television, there are more and more commercials related to Peyronie’s disease, and this has been a trend in the urologic community to see more patients with curvature of the penis, simply because people are talking about it more.
Historically, men who have had curvature of their penis haven’t sought treatment, but more recently, as it’s become more socially acceptable to seek treatment, I’ve been seeing more and more patients in clinic with Peyronie’s disease, or curvature of the penis.
So what is Peyronie’s disease? Well, Peyronie’s disease is an abnormal plaque formation in the penis that causes for pain, curvature, and a decreased length of the penis. That’s most often what the patients come into see me for Peyronie’s disease complain of. There are many treatment options for Peyronie’s disease, but it really depends on what stage of the disease you’re in.
Peyronie’s disease comes in two forms; either the active form of the disease, or the quiescent form, or the latent form, of the disease, where it’s quiet. If it comes in – if I see you and you have an active form of Peyronie’s disease, that means that you’re having an active plaque formation and actively increasing curvature, pain, and decreasing length of the penis.
In these circumstances, it may not be the right idea to pursue with a surgical treatment option because things are still getting worse. If you treat things too early, you may find that, after the treatment, things continue to get worse. And so, it’s really more appropriate to treat the pain with anti-inflammatories, and do minimally invasive things in treating the active form of Peyronie’s disease.
One of these active treatment options is intralesional injection of a medication called Xiaflex. Xiaflex is the brand name for a medication that basically breaks down proteins in the plaque, and allows for the penis to straighten. If you have an active phase of Peyronie’s disease, you should come see me so that we can prevent the side effects of the active form of the disease as soon as we possibly can.
Now that we’ve talked about the active form of Peyronie’s disease, it’s important to talk about the quiet form of the Peyronie’s disease, which typically happens about 16 to 18 months after the onset of the curvature of the penis. Now, in the quiet form of the disease, the pain typically goes away, but you may be left with a increased curve in the penis, which may make it difficult to have intercourse or may make it impossible for you to get an erection.
And in this – in these cases, we really need to address the problem in a thoughtful way. If you’re simply unable to get erections, you may require a more invasive treatment strategy, but if you’re able to get erections and your curvature’s preventing you from having sex, you may go down a completely different path of therapy.
If you feel like you may be having symptoms of Peyronie’s disease, please visit us on our website at northwoodsurology.com, or call us to make an appointment today.