Peyronies Disease. When you curve more than a little one way or another.
I was speaking with a girlfriend over the weekend who is busy dating a bunch of different men. She's single, over 40, has her own place, and is auditioning lovers. She claims that she "is now not giving these men even the time for a coffee if they don't show her pictures of their erect penises." It's not that she is overly difficult, it's that she's had more than a couple who have peyronies disease, where the penis is curved to such an extent that penetration is complicated. She beleives that peyronies is much more common that men think, and is caused by scar tissue building on the inside of the penis.
Imagine a balloon with a small piece of tape on it. If the balloon is inflated the tape will prevent full expansion, and it will be distorted. PD causes a similar mechanism of distortion in the penis. The normal penis expands and elongates evenly resulting in a straight erection. But in Peyronie's disease, normal elastic tissue is replaced by rather hard plaque tissue that is not elastic. When a man with Peyronie's has an erection the plaque does not expand, thus the curve or twist.
Cases of PD range from mild to severe; some are so mild as to be detected only on autopsy, while others are so severe that surgery is necessary to reduce painful distortion. The scar may range from a few millimeters or may encompass the entire shaft of the penis. Pain, hardened scar formation and/or distortion may develop slowly or appear overnight in PD. Do you hear that – overnight. I can only go by clinical evidence, but i think it affects close to 10% of men over 30.
Angulation of the erect penis from 5°- 45° is not uncommon, and can be greater; deformities can advance beyond 90º and are described as “J”, “cane handle” and “corkscrew”. Distortion or angulation of the non-erect penis is rare. In a small percentage of cases with a milder form of the disease, inflammation may resolve without causing significant pain or permanent bending. Sexual difficulty and impotency also range from mild to severe, depending on the degree of deformity.
In some extreme cases the scar may create a bottle-neck, collar-like, or hourglass-like distortion of the erect penis. The scar tissue may cause the penis to be limp or soft beyond the location of the nodule, leading to inability to have sexual intercourse. At the extreme, an erect penis may be so distorted (“J” or “corkscrew”) making intercourse impossible or at least extremely painful for both partners.
There is little that works in fixing peyronies. Sometimes it cures on its own, miraculously healing as suddenly as it appeared. Vitamin E works, surgery can make it worse, and there are many stretching, herbs, and vacuum devices that claim to have an impact. I also think it has something to do with old football injuryies – and all boys and men should be encouraged to wear their jocks.