Penile implants

Hey Gene - leucadiabeach

Gene - not to worry - the cylinders will have some fluid in them - also, 1st time implants behave much better with little or no scarring. But you can certainly ask the doc. Also, in my situation the implants were in quite awhile before activation, so it is probably more my condition than the average implant.

As to leucadiabeach's question on web sites - this is the most active I have found - yahoo groups has one on erectile dysfunction and penile implants - but not much info or activity there. Healthbords has a pretty active board as well.
But this place seems to have the most participation.
It is hard to get information other than the standard definitions and provider web sites.
That’s why it is critical for those with experience to discuss these topics openly so those with questions may get real patient’s perspectives. I am an extreme case at one end of the spectrum and others have a very uneventful procedure, with excellent results for years. No question about it - the implant has it’s problems, but it is the best solution to date for those with permanent, full organic erectile dysfunction.

Luke & Gene -

One other thing on the inflation thread.
Another consideration is the amount of swelling and hematomas one has in the scrotum. Luke sounds like he didn't have long term issues to allow the implant to be inflated and deflated. My particular problems of bleeding prevented any manipulation of the pump for several weeks. So I assume my implants were left fuller than average.
My impression is that the first implant is usually very well tolerated by the body, so scarring is usually minimal, so inflation volume is not as critical as it is in re-implantation or revisions.

Hi Luke -

Yep swelling is pretty normal.
It will all go away with time - if you have quite a bit of blood, that too normally will be reabsorbed into the body.

The main reason they request you pull on the pump, as uncomfortable as that is - is to prevent adhesions, or a encapsulating of the tissues around the pump. Repositioning the pump will not allow the tissues to attach to the pump. Which is a very good thing.
Here's to a speedy recovery.

Hi Luke - over looked this - sorry about that.
I am not certain as how everyone's pump settled in, mine have always been faily low in the scrotum. It still takes a lot of time for it to loosen up. I remeber that in my earlier implants always seemed pretty tight and high, and it was frustrating trying to manipulate the pump. But over time they all settled lower and easier to pump - to the point that you really don't know its there.
Or, at least in my experiences.

Gene,Art

    Thanks for the info,went to the Dr Fri. one month post surgery. Still have some swelling and pain. Have to take a pain pill to get some sleep. Am going back in 30 days at which time will find out if this thing works, it had better after all this pain.

  I don't know about you guys but my RP was less painful

Hey Luke!

Hang in there - it will get better. You might gain a little of the lenght back and the pain will subside with time.

All the best to you.

Can anyone provide information about your experience with implants done at the Cleveland Clinic? I'm scheduled for an implant there on 1/06/09. My first implant was done in 10/23/07. It had to be removed 12/13/07 due to a hospital-acquired infection (pseudomonas aeruginosa). The Cleveland Clinic is very highly rated and the surgeon has pioneered a new technique for implants after initial failed implants. However, I don't want to have to repeat the very unhappy experience I had last year. I've e-mailed Art662. Can anyone else chime in?

Thanks.

q52indy said...
Can anyone provide information about your experience with implants done at the Cleveland Clinic? I'm scheduled for an implant there on 1/06/09. My first implant was done in 10/23/07. It had to be removed 12/13/07 due to a hospital-acquired infection (pseudomonas aeruginosa). The Cleveland Clinic is very highly rated and the surgeon has pioneered a new technique for implants after initial failed implants. However, I don't want to have to repeat the very unhappy experience I had last year. I've e-mailed Art662. Can anyone else chime in?

Thanks.

Hey q52indy.

I didn't get your email yet. I have had experience with the Cleveland Clinic. I will first say that everyone will have a different experience, so I can only relay what I know from 1st hand experience. I had a revision surgery there to replace an implant that lost fluid by Dr. Montague in 2000. The facility is very high quality - ranking with Mayo in NY. However I was not pleased at all with the outcome of my surgeries there. Dr.M. found a suspect infection when he removed the leaking implant, and decided to not replace the implant with a new one, but to treat with antibiotics, even thought the cultures that were performed while I was in the hospital came back negative. He rescheduled my implant for 2 months later. Needless to say, the scarring caused by the removal of the implant and waiting for 2 months caused a great amount of penile shortening. The new implant was 2” shorter! I did try to sue Dr. Montague, and found out from the lawyer that several complaints were filed against him. He is brilliant, and unfortunately very busy. I went to Seattle 2 years later to try and regain some penile length. I recaptured 1”. My opinion of Dr. Montegue, obviously is very low. We did find in the legal discovery that what he did was within the accepted course of treatment, but most Uros I have talked to since said that it is unusual to remove an implant and wait to re-implant without some form of stretching therapy or other treatment. You can contact me via email anytime on this. Again - this was my experience, yours may be quite different.

RE: Infections

I've read replies regarding infections due to skin bacteria.  My very bad experience with infection was hospital-acquired (pseudomonas aeruginosa---I have the lab report) and it sounds like the "no touch" technique referenced in the moderator's link provides the best chance for infection-free surgery if combined with pre-op techniques done at home as sugested by many of the folks who have posted on this and other sites.

I'd sure like to get some feedback from anybody that's had an implant done at the Cleveland Clinic in the last 2 years.

James C. said...

ART662 replied to you with his experience, just 2 replies down.  Revision surgery, not implant, but still some good personalized info.  Finding an implant patient that specific may be a problem, as there aren't that many with implants who post here.  From what Art662 posted, even with revision, I would be very concerned and definetly do some second and third opinions and interviewing before proceding.  Surgery can be postponed, it's not a locked in committment, if you care concerned about the outcome you will get from this hospital or surgeon.  You only get one shot at it to get it right the first time, ya know.  Now, I'm not telling you what to do. Just speaking to you questions and concerns.  That's just my personal opinion, though. 

I'll cut and paste Art662 here, in case you are having viewing problems.:

Hi James C.

Thank you for posting the link on the no touch procedure.

Every time you go in for a revision, it's a new implant - so I have had 6, going on 7.

I think your advice is very well put. It is pretty much a one shot deal. My experiences with the "super Stars' is just that they are incredibly busy. Have egos bigger than a house and really delegate your care to one on the underlings. I found this to be true with Furlow as well. I have had many, many physicians and these two may be great with an initial implant, research and teaching. There are a lot of Dr's who are great on the first go round. But on reimplantation and infection issues, I would really take my time - ask for names of patients you can talk to. For my next time under the knife (in 2009), I will try for a reconstructive urologist. The reasoning is that it is a far more difficult procedure to reimplant. I have read almost all of Dr. Montague's papers - including multiple implantations to stretch the penile cavity and gain some penile length. Unfortunately, in my situation (and apparently several other patients) he was way too busy to administer proper patient care. I saw him only once for less than a minute in my several day hospital stay. Your experience may be quite different - but if you ask my opinion - stay away from that one. I am not a difficult patient, and I have always felt I was very realistic in my expectations. But that guy - well in all my 27 years dealing with implant surgeons - he was the only one I attempted to sue.

I'll leave it there.

leucadiabeach said...
well, all this information is very helpful. Is there anybody out there who got an implant and it worked fine for the advertised 10 years and was happy about it? I have not heard it yet. All this talk of shortening is very discouraging, especially after the RP shortening that nobody tells you about. If it gets any shorter, whats the use.

I think there needs to be a fundamental advance in this technology before I sign up.

Hey leucadiabeach -

I know it might sound not very promising, but most implant patients keep the majority of their length. It depends on how your body reacts to the implants. The villain is scarring and contraction. Usually the initial implant does very well for most patients. The problems come from additional revisions, which up to this time, requires the removal of the implant and the placement of a new one. In my signature I list all my procedures. But I had pretty bad architecture, meaning the penile walls are weak causing aneurysms and the removal and replacement of the implants caused excess scarring. Along with total loss of nerve sensitivity. Saying all that I will continue to repair the little fella as long as possible. As I have always posted. If you have another option to regain sexual function, use that - if all else fails - go for the implant, just do a lot of homework.

Can somebody send me the link to penile implants on the yahoo board? I can't seem to find it.