Peyronie's Disease Treatment Options

NONSURGICAL TREATMENTS¹

Oral Medications: Some doctors may prescribe: vitamin E, Potaba (potassium aminobenzoate), Pentoxifylline, tamoxifen, carnitine, colchicines, or L-arginine. While scientific studies have been conducted on some of these medications, there is no conclusive evidence that they are effective.
Injections: Verapamil and interferon injections have shown measurable improvement for about half of patients who have tried them and some injections may help relieve associated pain. There is no evidence that steroid injections are helpful, and according to the WHO, they may be harmful.
Topical Treatments: Verapamil is also used as a topical treatment, but there is no evidence that any topical treatment improves the condition.
Shock-Wave Therapy: In this therapy, a shock-wave, typically generated by a spark plug, is passed through the skin and directed at the plaque. Recent studies have not shown any benefit in treating curvature.
Energy Therapy: Energy such as ultrasound or lasers is used to drive a drug into the scar tissue to help break up the plaque. Studies have not shown any benefit in condition.
Traction Devices or Penis Stretchers/Extenders: These devices stretch the penis and scar tissue in an attempt to straighten it. Studies are underway to study the effects of these devices.
Vacuum Therapy: A vacuum cylinder uses suction to reduce curvature. There are no data available for this type of therapy.
Other non-surgical therapies are currently under investigation, and this site will be updated as data become available.
In some cases your doctor may recommend watchful waiting before prescribing treatment.

SURGICAL TREATMENTS

Because Peyronie's disease develops over time, waiting 6 months to a year from the onset of disease before pursuing corrective surgery is recommended. The goal of surgical therapy is to straighten the penis and restore function.

There are two ways to straighten a curved cylinder, either reducing the length of the outside of the curve or increasing the length of the inside of the curve, as shown below.

Plication Procedures: In this procedure, the outside of the curvature is altered to straighten the penis. (See image A above.) In 67% of patients, the penis loses some length as a result of this procedure, but patients still report a 79% to 85% satisfaction rate.²
Plaque Incision or Excision and Grafting: This procedure removes tissue on the inside of the curve and replaces it with a graft to allow the penis to straighten. The graft can either be tissue from the patient or a biological "off-the-shelf" material such as Cook Medical's Surgisis^® Biodesign™ Peyronie's Disease Repair Graft or a cadaveric pericardial graft.
Prosthesis Implantation: In this procedure for men who have Peyronie’s disease and severe erectile dysfunction, an inflatable penile prosthesis is implanted.

The book Understanding Peyronie’s Disease: A Treatment Guide for Curvature of the Penis by Laurence A. Levine, M.D. is an additional source of patient-friendly information on Peyronie’s disease and its treatment.

For treatment related articles and clinical data you can access the same medical journal abstracts provided to physicians. Patients may find some of this information helpful; however, as it is primarily intended for doctors, some of the materials may be highly clinical in nature.