Painful sexual intercourse of Peyronie’s disease can often be eliminated or reduced
Painful sexual intercourse when due to medical or psychological causes is medically known as dyspareunia (dis-pair-oo-nee-uh). While this kind of pain is most often reported exclusively by women, it is also reported amongst men who have a curved penis due to Peyronie’s disease.
Assuming that your husband has a curved penis because of Peyronie’s disease, there are several different ways and areas of their life that a couple can work together to improve, and possibly eliminate, the pain they experience during sexual intercourse. While most people assume that the pain is the direct result of a curved penis, it has been shown it is necessary to consider the effects of the multiple factors that are unique to Peyronie’s disease and capable of affecting sexual function. To help a situation in which intercourse is painful because of the effects of Peyronie’s disease it is usually necessary to use more than one treatment approach.
Do not make a hasty assumption that the cause of your pain during intercourse is a crooked penis; you might be right, but then again you might be only partially correct.
The topic of pain during intercourse is so common and so important to couples who deal with Peyronie’s disease that the Peyronie’s Disease Institute offers two valuable methods to learn how often eradicate the problem, or at least minimize it greatly. The first is a special program in which our staff nurse will personally consult with and advise any woman who needs help in a program called “Woman to Woman.” Women can speak to our nurse to ask questions of any sort that deal Peyronie’s disease, from the anatomy and physiology of sexual intercourse to suggestions for intercourse positions and lubrication options, as well as help dealing with sexual difficulties. The second is a book written by Dr. Theodore Herazy titled, “Peyronie’s Disease and Sex,” that covers many of the diverse problems faced by couples who find intercourse painful or restricted by a curved penis or erectile dysfunction.
There are many different deformity patterns (bend, curve, indentation, rotation or twisting, hourglass and bottleneck, as well as combinations of these) plus different degrees of those penile distortions and curvatures that can contribute to different levels of pain experienced during intercourse. Even so, a bent penis is usually not the sole reason for painful intercourse for a couple dealing with Peyronie’s disease. Just like the difficulty of putting a square peg in a round hole, a curved penis will certainly get someone’s attention and be the natural assumption for the cause of painful intercourse.
However, the amount of pain and even the absence of pain during intercourse that is due to a curved penis often presents a surprisingly inconsistent and unexpected pattern; it is difficult to predict the failure or success of intercourse, or even if pain will or will not occur, based solely on the external appearance of the man’s penis. It is not possible to say that a couple will experience pain or failure to complete entry for sexual intercourse only based on how much or where the penis is bent or distorted.
Women get help with painful sexual intercourse related to Peyronie's disease
The Peyronie’s Disease Institute nurse has advised and counseled many men and women who had not been able to engage in sexual intercourse because of pain for several years, even though the penile distortion involved sometimes is not great, less than 10 degrees. Conversely, she has encountered a large number of happy couples, who in spite of having to deal with penile curvature approaching 90 degrees, were still able to engage in satisfying sexual intercourse without pain.
Based on these observations, there must be something else going on that explains why one couple will have problems with a small Peyronie’s curve and another couple will not have any apparent problems with a large Peyronie’s curve.
From our experience it is common for other seemingly small and less obvious factors to turn out to be the sole reason for pain during sex, or at least the primary contributor, rather than the more obvious curved penis. Nevertheless, to find a solution for painful intercourse that is part of the Peyronie’s experience it is important to consider all possible factors and not the just obvious. Unless all the issues that contribute to painful sex are identified and addressed, pain will likely continue to be a problem, often getting worse over time since interpersonal problems tend to escalate.
The most common cause of pain during sexual intercourse is a simple lack of vaginal lubrication that normally is secreted during arousal to make penetration easier and reduce friction and irritation during coitus. Some common reasons a woman would experience a lack of lubrication are:
Menopause – reduced progesterone and estrogen hormone production after age 50
causes many changes in the ability of the reproductive system to operate in a way that favors reproduction. Thinning of the vaginal walls, less natural lubricant production and pain during sex are common signs of menopause.
Lack of foreplay – hurried sex does not allow for adequate time for natural secretions to be produced.
Disinterest or emotional issues about sex – a variety of past and current issues can be at play to reduce sexual interest in either partner
Vaginismus – an involuntary spasm or tightness of the muscles surrounding the vagina, especially at the opening, making penetration difficult, painful or impossible. This tightening and subsequent pain while attempting entry can have several possible causes: past sexual trauma or abuse, a history of discomfort with sexual intercourse, and at times no cause can be found. Psychological factors related to Peyronie’s disease are commonly found to be at the heart of vaginismus often develops because of anxiety regarding sexual intercourse, such as remembering the traumatic event that happened during intercourse that caused the Peyronie’s disease injury in the first place, the guilt and anxiety about causing his Peyronie’s disease, the anger about being in a relationship that is marred by a curved penis, the fear another accident might happen making his PD even worse. Vaginismus treatment involves education and counseling for the couple, behavioral exercises, and vaginal dilation exercises using plastic dilators. This type of therapy should be done under the direction of a sex therapist or other health care provider experienced in this area of sexual dysfunction.
A wide range of emotional issues that are rooted in Peyronie’s disease result in pain during sex because they cause of variable degrees of vaginismus and reduced sexual lubrication:
Anger and frustration about being in a relationship without normal sex
Fear of making his Peyronie’s worse during sex with another accident
Fear that the Peyronie’s disease is contagious – and it is not – and could result in problems for the female partner
Fear that the deformed penis will injure the vagina
Guilt since she was one who caused sex accident
Low expectation to gain entry since penis does not look like it would be able to fit
If you are a woman experiencing pain during intercourse while also dealing with Peyronie’s disease, contact the PDI nurse via to get help identifying and eliminating all issues that might be involved.