PRP / P-Shot
Platelet-rich plasma penile injection
Evidence grade 2 of 5, Thin. Read how the Atlas grades evidence.
The written rationale for this grade is still being prepared.
- FDA
- No FDA clearance for ED
Reference only. Not medical advice.
What can go wrong
Injection-site bruising, pain, and infection risk; the larger harm is financial, significant out-of-pocket cost for a procedure whose efficacy for ED is not established. Marketing claims commonly outrun the evidence.
This is something to take to a clinician. The Atlas can tell you what is known about prp / p-shot 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.
Platelet-rich plasma therapy injects a concentrate of the patient's own platelets, rich in growth factors, into penile tissue, proposed to promote regeneration and improve erectile function. The 'P-Shot' (Priapus Shot) is a trademarked branded version. Evidence is limited to small studies; the mechanism is theoretically plausible but unproven for ED, and the commercial pricing far exceeds what the data support.
A trademarked brand procedure marketed far beyond its evidence.
What people take it for
These are the reasons people give for taking it. They are not effects it has been shown to have.
How it is supposed to work
Concentrated autologous platelets release growth factors (PDGF, VEGF, TGF-beta) hypothesized to stimulate angiogenesis and tissue regeneration. The rationale is borrowed from orthopedic and dermatologic PRP use; direct evidence for erectile tissue is sparse.
What people get wrong
Often saidThe P-Shot is a proven, FDA-approved ED treatment
ActuallyIt is neither proven for ED nor FDA-approved for it. The P-Shot is a trademarked brand procedure supported by limited small studies; the evidence does not support the price or the marketing.
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
- Source
- Patient's own platelets
- Brand name
- P-Shot (trademarked)
- FDA status for ED
- None
- Typical cost
- $1,500-$3,000
What this entry does not yet cover
What follows is unfinished work on our side, not a finding about PRP / P-Shot. 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.