In this video, Stephanie Wolff, P.A.-C, board-certified PA-C and CEO of Novus Anti-Aging Center, goes over 3 common symptoms of Peyronie’s disease, including penis curvature. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you may have Peyronie’s disease and are advised to seek diagnosis/treatment.
3 Common Symptoms of Peyronie’s Disease
Symptom #1: Unnatural Curve
Many Peyronie’s disease patients experience penis curvature. The penis may curve to the left, to the right, or upward. The degree of curvature varies from patient to patient; while some patients experience dramatic 90-degree curvature, others only see 15-degree curvature.
Symptom #2: Plaques & Scar Tissue
Plaques and scar tissue in the penis can present in a number of ways. In severe cases, several prominent pronounced bulges may be apparent on the sides of the penis.
In milder cases, the presence of dense scar tissue may not be visibly obvious. It may feel mild enough that patients never notice it, because they don’t know what type of texture they’re looking for.
When the presence of dense scar tissue is not visibly obvious, in order to detect it, the shaft of the penis must be palpated. Scar tissue can feel similar in texture to a penny, a potato chip, or even like marbles.
How You Can Tell If You Have Peyronie’s Disease
The shaft is also called the spongiosum, partially because it should be spongy. To look for scar tissue, take two fingers and feel the spongiosum when you’re flaccid. Feel the right and left sides, pinch it together. It should be flexible. If you feel an area that’s dense rather than flexible, that’s scar tissue.
If you have a sponge and fill it with water, it expands symmetrically. In this same way, blood flowing into the spongy tissue of the penis should make it expand symmetrically. When you’re erect, if an area looks pinched off or looks as if a rubber band is around it, that’s a dense-tissue area. Look for these regions.
Symptom #3: Painful Erections
Pain during erections is a very common symptom of Peyronie’s disease. The degree of pain is different for every patient depending on the amount of scar tissue and its location, along with the degree of penile curvature.
For patients with scar tissue or curvature, when blood flows through the tissues and expands them, it can create a feeling of stretching and pain. The more curvature present, the more painful the erection. This pain is not present while the penis is flaccid, since the tissues are not being extended.
When scar tissue is minimal and near the base of the shaft, the pain can feel like groin pain, like a muscle tear or a sprain. With more pronounced issues, the pain can be so severe that patients avoid getting erections completely.
Clinical Studies
A number of clinical studies are available relating to Peyronie’s disease and related subjects:
- Erectile Dysfunction Treatment Using Focused Linear Low-Intensity Extracorporeal Shockwaves: Single-Blind, Sham-Controlled, Randomized Clinical Trial
- Shockwave therapy as first-line treatment for Peyronie’s disease: a prospective study
- Recent advances in the understanding and management of erectile dysfunction
- Safety and feasibility of platelet rich fibrin matrix injections for treatment of common urologic conditions
- Testosterone Therapy Improves Erectile Function and Libido in Hypogonadal Men
- Stem Cell Therapy for Erectile Dysfunction
- MSC-derived exosomes ameliorate erectile dysfunction by alleviation of corpus cavernosum smooth muscle apoptosis in a rat model of cavernous nerve injury
Contact Us to Learn More
To find out more about common symptoms of Peyronie’s disease, contact Novus Anti-Aging Center in Los Angeles and arrange an appointment for a consultation. If you’re interested in learning about effective Peyronie’s disease treatments, we’ve covered them here.