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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staff
Your doctor will likely not recommend treatment if all of the conditions apply to you:
- The curvature isn't severe and is no longer worsening
- You don't experience pain
- You can engage in satisfactory sexual activity
Oral medications
There's limited information on the effectiveness of drugs to treatment Peyronie's disease. A number of oral medications have been proposed and tested, but the use of these drugs isn't supported by reliable research.
Penile injections
Research on drugs injected directly into the plaques in the penis is somewhat limited. However, these treatments may reduce the curvature of the penis and pain associated with Peyronie's disease. If you have one of these treatments, you'll receive multiple injections over several months. You'll be given a local anesthetic to prevent pain during the injections.
Penile injections for Peyronie's disease may include one of the following drugs:
- Verapamil is a drug normally used to treat high blood pressure. It appears to disrupt the production of collagen, a protein in connective tissues that appears to be a key factor in the formation of Peyronie's disease scar tissue.
- Interferon is a protein that appears to disrupt the production and promote the breakdown of collagen.
- Collagenase is an enzyme that breaks down collagen and may eliminate some scar tissue.
Surgery
Your doctor may suggest surgery if the deformity of your penis is severe or prevents you from having sex. Surgery usually isn't performed until the condition is stabilized — until the curvature hasn't changed and your erections have been pain-free for at least six months.
Common surgical methods include:
- Shortening the unaffected side. A variety of procedures can be used to shorten the tunica albuginea on the side of the penis opposite the scar tissue. The shortened side of the sheath and the less elastic, scarred side of the sheath end up being about the same length when the penis is erect. This results in a relatively straight erection. These procedures usually shorten the overall length of the penis. It's generally used in men who have adequate penis length and a less severe curvature of the penis. A risk of this procedure is difficulty in achieving or maintaining an erection (erectile dysfunction).
- Lengthening the affected side. With these procedures, the surgeon makes several cuts in the scar tissue, allowing the sheath to stretch out and the penis to straighten. The surgeon may have to remove some of the scar tissue. A graft is sewn into place to cover the holes in the tunica albuginea. A graft may be tissue from your own body, human or animal tissue, or a synthetic material. This procedure is generally used if a man has a shorter penis, severe curvature or a complicated deformity. This procedure runs a greater risk of erectile dysfunction than does the shortening procedure.
- Penile implants. Penile implants are essentially artificial versions of the spongy, tube-like tissues in the penis (corpora cavernosa). The implants may be semirigid — manually bent down to appear flaccid or bent up for sexual intercourse. Other penile implants may be inflated with a pump implanted either in the groin or the scrotum. The inflated implants cause the penis to be erect. Penile implants are usually used if a man has both Peyronie's disease and erectile dysfunction. When the implants are put in place, the surgeon will likely make some incisions in the scar tissue to relieve tension on the tunica albuginea.
You'll likely go home from the hospital the same day as the surgery. You'll need to leave the dressing on your penis for 24 to 72 hours. Your surgeon will advise you on how long you should wait before having sex. You'll likely need to wait at least four to six weeks.
- Peyronie's disease. American Urological Association Foundation. http://urologyhealth.org/adult/index.cfm?cat=11&topic=50. Accessed June 3, 2009.
- Briganti A, et al. Peyronie's disease: A review. Current Opinion in Urology. 2003;13:417.
- Taylor FL, et al. Peyronie's Disease. Urological Clinics of North America. 2007;34:517.
- Sommer F, et al. Epidemiology of Peyronie's disease. International Journal of Impotence Research. 2002;14:379.
- Trost LW, et al. Pharmacological management of Peyronie's disease. Drugs. 2007;67:527.
