Different way to look at Peyronie's disease and blood supply
Peyronie’s disease is all about the Peyronies plaque, because the Peyronie’s plaque causes all the problems we normally associate with this condition. To back this idea up, and to show you are doing something that is potentially dangerous to your Peyronie’s disease by using erection enhancing drugs, let’s review some interesting research that took place about 15 years ago.
First, some background. According to two Peyronies disease researchers, Drs. J. A. Lopez and J. P. Jarrow, from the Department of Urology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, most of the erectile dysfunction that is associated with Peyronies disease is probably not due to reduced blood supply coming into the penis. Hence, taking Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, or any erection producing drugs, is often not effective and when it is it could be dangerous when someone with PD takes any erection producing drug.
Let’s get through the technical material first and then I will put it all together as it relates to using these drugs because you have Peyronies.
In the study done by Lopez and Jarrow, they did a penile vascular (blood flow) evaluation; they tested the penis arteries (to determine blood flow coming into the penis), and they tested the penis veins (to determine the blood flow leaving the penis).
They tested 95 consecutive men who came to them for evaluation or treatment of Peyronie's disease; of these 95 men, 19 were potent (able to become erect) and 76 were impotent (not able to become erect). They also did the very same kind of penile vascular (blood flow) evaluation on 100 consecutive impotent men who did not have Peyronie's disease so they could compare the condition of their blood vessels as it relates to erections and erectile dysfunction.
Potent men with Peyronie’s disease
After testing the 19 potent men who had Peyronie's disease, they found only one (5%) of the 19 potent patients had abnormal arterial blood flow coming into the penis, and none (95%) had evidence of abnormal venous blood supply leaving the penis.
Impotent men with Peyronie’s disease
After testing the 76 impotent men who had Peyronie's disease, they found that 27 men (36%) had abnormal arterial blood flow coming into the penis, and 44 men (59%) had evidence of abnormal venous blood supply leaving the penis.
Potent and Impotent men who did not have Peyronie’s disease
There was no significant difference in historical risk factors for impotence between the impotent men with or without Peyronie's disease and the control population of impotent patients.
After testing the 100 men who did not have Peyronie’s disease they found they had about the same percent of abnormal arterial blood flow coming into the penis. However, they found these same men had significantly less (16%) abnormal venous blood supply leaving the penis.
So the big difference was that the impotent men (59%) with Peyronie’s disease had a whole lot more abnormal venous blood supply leaving the penis, than the impotent men (16%) who did not have Peyronie’s disease.
This means that although men with Peyronie's disease may suffer some impotence due to artery blood flow problems, the research proves that the primary and overwhelming cause of impotence in men with Peyronie’s disease is abnormal venous blood supply leaving the penis.
So you ask, “What could be wrong with my venous blood flow leaving my penis?” Answer: your Peyronie’s plaque.
Peyronie’s plaque causes impotency
It is the Peyronie’s plaque that causes the veins of the penis to not close properly. Click here to understand a bit about Peyronie's disease and erection.
There are special valves within the veins of the penis that close off at special times, to trap the blood inside the penis – to create an erection. If the veins do not trap the blood, no erection. The presence of the plaque or scar material is the problem that causes the valves of the veins to not trap blood, hence a poor or absent erection. Yes, there are surely many emotional reasons a man with Peyronies will develop impotency, but this vein problem is by far the primary physical reason for this erection problem that we all are interested in.
Imagine that you want to close a door to trap warm or cold air inside a room. You try to close the door, but you cannot because there is something causing the door to not close all the way – perhaps the door is warped, or maybe there is something lying across the doorway like a doorstop and the door will not seal the room shut. If the door cannot be closed fully, it will be difficult or impossible to close the door, and you cannot trap the air in that room. It is the same in Peyronie’s disease. If the valves of the veins cannot be closed fully, it will be difficult or impossible to close them, and you cannot trap the blood to create the erection.
The presence of one or more Peyronie’s disease plaques or scars can and will cause physical interference with the normal closing of the valves inside the penis veins and one or more areas of the penis stay soft, preventing intercourse. It is as simple as that.
So your medical doctor, hearing that you are having a problem with impotence along with your Peyronie’s disease says to you, “Do not fear. I have my magic prescription pad here. I will happily write a prescription for Viagra, Cialis, or Levitra and you will get an erection that will amaze and delight the woman you love, and amaze all your family, friends and neighbors. Please pay the nurse at the front desk as you leave.”
Elsewhere I will write more about the potential dangers of erection producing drugs like Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra in relation specifically to Peyronies. For this discussion it is sufficient to state that Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra only bring more blood into the penis. The do not and cannot help you to trap it there to create an erection. This is why they may or may not work for you, and in fact, could potentially make your Peyronie’s disease worse.
For more information about the safe and effective treatment of Peyronie’s disease with Alternative Medicine, go to the Peyronie's Disease Institute website.