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As a young man I had problems maintaining an erection, I do believe my erection problems were caused by phychological issues, low self esteem, etc. i have to say this was many years ago prior to the invention of viagra or cialis so I never had the luxary of trying these medicines. I mentioned the erection issue to my Dad and we went to see a urologist who sold us on inserting an implant in me, this was when implants were not very common. Originally I had an AMS and I liked it, it worked well. Then as years went by it stopped working. After fighting with my health insurance company - AvMed, a Florida based insurance health insurance company for more than a year, hiring a health care attorney, filing appeals (which I lost), I decided to replace the implant with a new one. I shopped around, it cost me $22,000 to replace it. I am very unhappy with this implant. It is a Titan, the inflatable mechanism, (bulb) is large and sits right on the bottom of the scrottal sac, and the fluid reservoir is hitting the bladder causing pain. The MOST upsetting thing is that throughout the years the penis continues to shrink. I used to have 5 1/2 inches and decent girth, now it has shrunk to 3 inches which is embarrassing. The last woman I was with told me she could not feel me inside of her, she said it's a shame cause I'm a good looking guy in my 50's, I work out and stay in shape. My questions are and I hope somebody can send me in the right direction: 1. Has anyone removed an implant and what are the implications? 2. Does anyone know of any research into the use of stem cells for penile tissue regeneration? The urologist told me that when a man has an implant inserted, he looses penile tissue. I'm very unhappy. Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cuba55 wrote:As a young man I had problems maintaining an erection, I do believe my erection problems were caused by phychological issues, low self esteem, etc. i have to say this was many years ago prior to the invention of viagra or cialis so I never had the luxary of trying these medicines. I mentioned the erection issue to my Dad and we went to see a urologist who sold us on inserting an implant in me, this was when implants were not very common. Originally I had an AMS and I liked it, it worked well. Then as years went by it stopped working. After fighting with my health insurance company - AvMed, a Florida based insurance health insurance company for more than a year, hiring a health care attorney, filing appeals (which I lost), I decided to replace the implant with a new one. I shopped around, it cost me $22,000 to replace it. I am very unhappy with this implant. It is a Titan, the inflatable mechanism, (bulb) is large and sits right on the bottom of the scrottal sac, and the fluid reservoir is hitting the bladder causing pain. The MOST upsetting thing is that throughout the years the penis continues to shrink. I used to have 5 1/2 inches and decent girth, now it has shrunk to 3 inches which is embarrassing. The last woman I was with told me she could not feel me inside of her, she said it's a shame cause I'm a good looking guy in my 50's, I work out and stay in shape. My questions are and I hope somebody can send me in the right direction: 1. Has anyone removed an implant and what are the implications? 2. Does anyone know of any research into the use of stem cells for penile tissue regeneration? The urologist told me that when a man has an implant inserted, he looses penile tissue. I'm very unhappy. Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I believe once you've gone implant there's no way to have a sustainable lasting erection again because as you wrote, the tissue of the corpus cavernosa has been removed. From here on out it's erection-with-implant or nothing. I know nothing about stem cell research. Why is your penis length shrinking? You mentioned that you "shopped around." For the best price or the best surgeon?

KMeister

kmeister is quite right. If you have your implant removed and not replaced with another one, there is no possibility of a natural erection again. It is one of the caveats that surgeons will mention when talking about the risks of the surgery. In my case, there was zero response anyway and hadn't been for years so there was really nothing to lose and everything to gain.

As for shrinkage, it is pretty well documented that long histories of ED do result in shrinkage of penile tissue due to lack of blood flow. Cancer treatments including radio therapy and RP clearly result in shrinkage. I experienced some shrinkage from both of those causes AND, while successfully fighting off an infection in parts of my LGX implant during which I did not inflate the implant for several weeks, I lost some ground which I have slowly been regaining.

It is true: Use it, or lose it, even with an implant in my case

Cuba55, what year was it that you got the implant and how old were you at the time?

Get a vacuum pump and use every day and at least twice a day to restore blood flow during inflating the penis with the pump. You can get a pump that will allow you to have an erection for 30 min at a time. This will slowly stretch out what you have as if forces blood back into those areas that have not had any for a period of time. Look at Osbourne I think the name is and after a period of time, god to one of the best Kramer, Eid, Gasbar for your next implant. These are some of the best and you may have to travel as I did to Baltimore from NC. It was well worth it.

Get that pump tonight and start pumping. My family doctor had me start with that and then found Dr. Kramer after searching for someone I trusted for the implant.

charlesr,
I had the first implant in 1989 and I was 31 years old at the time. Looking back I was way to young and did not understand the long term consequences of a penile implant.

Consult a top notch surgeon. You may be able to get rid of the pain and regain some size with a new implant. Where are you located ?

How is it possible to lose size with an implant?
Implants don't shrink in size, right?
Please explain.

Cuba55, I'm sorry to hear that. Cialis and Viagra were still in the lab at that time and your penile implant was very likely a premature step. Now that you have the implant, however, I would embrace it and enjoy it. I myself have an implant and am very happy with it. Removing it will leave you with nothing; as the corpus cavernosa had to be removed in order to install the implant.

I would highly recommend seeking a good urologist who can fit you with the proper implant. You will find that becoming Bionic has its definite rewards.

hardernharder wrote:How is it possible to lose size with an implant?
Implants don't shrink in size, right?
Please explain.

Sometimes the patient has already lost size due to other medical issues such undergoing a radical prostatectomy (removal of the prostate). Another common reasons men lose penis size is the effects of Peyronies disease. Also, a lack of regular erections due to ED can result in a loss of penis size.

If a man has a penile implant he can have erections again but often doesn't recover what he lost due to his prior medical history. However, pre-operation vacuum pump therapy has been documented to help a man regain some penis size.

Finally, sometimes the surgeon is too conservative when judging the size of the cylinders to implant in the patient, resulting in undersizing the cylinders, which results in the a loss of penis size. This last one is a common complaint. I suspect surgeons who do a lot of implants seldom have this problem.

KMeister