Yet another widespread way of attempting to treat Peyronie’s disease is the use of tissue grafts. Surgery has more than one answer for this disease and, if the patient is unwilling to accept the loss of penis length that always accompanies the Nesbit Procedure, then he can choose a different course of action.

This procedure entails the complete surgical removal of the lump of plaque that develops on the penis and straightening the penis in order to bring it back to the original shape. Doctors tend to advise patients to go accept this approach in cases featuring large plaques or severely bent penises. The surgeon removes the affected part of the Tunica Albuginea and replaces the plaque with a graft material of some type.

There are several types of grafts that can be used to make up for lost tissue. The first type is autograft tissue, which is tissue taken from the patient’s own body during surgery. This is done mostly to minimize the immunologic response to the graft and to make sure that the body does not reject it.

Surgeons can also use synthetic inert substances, such as Dacron mesh or GORE-TEX instead of living tissue. Unfortunately, these artificial compounds tend to cause more scarring and also fibrosis, which is the formation of excessive connective tissue on the penis. In some cases, the doctors resort to xenografts, which are foreign tissues, of human or animal origin. They are widely available in hospitals, but are also prone to rejection by the body’s immune progress.

Another problem plaguing grafts is the fact that, sooner or later, grafts undergo postoperative contraction, thus causing a shortening of the penis and scarring. Therefore, patients should weigh the pros and cons of grafts thoroughly before applying for surgery.

The last resort of many patients who suffer from severe forms of Peyronie’s disease is a penile implant. Years ago, implants were the first choice of many doctors faced with cases of men who could not achieve a proper erection because of Peyronie’s disease, but the advent of new techniques designed to cure erectile dysfunction has made their use less frequent. However, implants are still recommended to men whom erectile dysfunction drugs cannot help.

Penile implants are plastic cylinders, either solid or inflatable, which are placed inside the Corpora Cavernosa. These cylinders are biocompatible in order to avoid triggering a response of the immune progress. The surgeon can either place the implants inside the penis and let them do the work of straightening the organ, or they can try to bend the penis against the plaque in order to increase the implant’s chance of successfully correcting the curvature.

Patients should be aware that surgery is an invasive procedure that is better put off until other approaches have been found ineffective. Premature or inadequate surgery has a high rate of failure or recurrence of the disease. While, it is true that patients who have undergone successful surgery are usually satisfied with the results, it only takes a simple mistake to botch an operation and with surgery there is no going back.