Peyronie's Disease
Penile fibrous plaque and curvature
Evidence grade 4 of 5, Strong. Read how the Atlas grades evidence.
The written rationale for this grade is still being prepared.
- FDA
- FDA Approved (collagenase, Xiaflex, 2013)
Reference only. Not medical advice.
What can go wrong
Collagenase carries a risk of corporal rupture and penile hematoma and must be administered by trained clinicians. Surgery risks include length loss (plication), ED (grafting), and standard implant complications. Untreated active-phase disease may progress; intervention is typically deferred until the plaque stabilizes.
This is something to take to a clinician. The Atlas can tell you what is known about peyronie's disease in general. It cannot tell you what is happening in your body, and the difference matters most for exactly the symptoms that bring people to this page.
Peyronie's disease is the formation of fibrous scar plaque in the tunica albuginea, producing penile curvature, pain, shortening, and often associated erectile dysfunction. It is thought to follow micro-trauma and abnormal wound healing. Treatments range from oral agents and traction to intralesional collagenase (Xiaflex, FDA-approved 2013) and surgical correction (plication, grafting, or implant) for stable disease.
Fibrous plaque, curvature, and the only FDA-approved injectable for it.
What people take it for
What it is taken for. Approval, where it exists, covers only some of these.
How it works
Aberrant wound healing after microtrauma deposits collagen-rich plaque in the tunica, which is inelastic and bends the erect penis toward the lesion. Intralesional collagenase clostridium histolyticum enzymatically degrades the collagen plaque; traction therapy applies mechanical remodeling force.
What people get wrong
Often saidPenile curvature always needs surgery
ActuallyMany men have stable, functional curvature needing no surgery. Collagenase, traction, and observation are options; surgery is reserved for disabling, stable deformity.
Who profits, and who pushes back
Nobody is named here yet, because we have not done that work on this entry. Read that as unfinished. Somebody almost certainly sells this, and somebody almost certainly disputes it. Assume both until we have checked.
At a glance
- Lesion
- Tunica albuginea fibrous plaque
- FDA injectable
- Collagenase (Xiaflex), 2013
- Phases
- Active (painful) then stable
- Associated
- Dupuytren's contracture
What this entry does not yet cover
What follows is unfinished work on our side, not a finding about Peyronie's Disease. A short entry is not a safe entry.
- Timeline. We have not built the dated record of research and regulatory events.
- Cost and market. We have not documented what it sells for or who sells it.
- Supply chain. We have not mapped where it is made.
- Who uses it. We have not documented the user groups.
- What could change. No forward-looking summary yet.
- How it compares. We have not set it against the alternatives.
- Children and teenagers. We have not checked what is known about younger people.
- Where we land. We have not taken a position on this yet.
Sources
No sources recorded for this entry yet. Nothing on this page can be checked against a citation until that changes, so treat it as a summary awaiting its evidence.