Which implant did you and do you regret it?

[newbie443]

How long did it take you from when you first decided to speak to the doctor about getting the procedure and how long did it take the insurance to approve and for the surgery to actually happen after it got approved

It took me several years. My local doctors were not really into implants. I was not comfortable with having them do the surgery. It took a while to be able to pay out of pocket to go to a well known doctor. With insurance it would have been a matter of a few weeks with an up front payment from me of 4-7k.

[Cdogg737]

Currently planning on getting a penile and being looking at the different type of device they have which one did you get and how do you like it

To be honest I think once you have made the decision to get an implant, picking which brand is a decision that is almost as difficult! My Dr does both brands and said it was my choice. The main things I had heard (and took into account) were:-

*AMS has a more natural looking flaccid, Titans tend to always seem semi erect. Although I have seen some posts from members who have a Titan and their flaccid looks as normal as any other.

*AMS has an impregnated antibacterial coating which is apparently superior to the Hydrophilic coating on the Titan. This almost sealed the deal for me as infection scares me to death, but my Dr was of the opinion this is mostly just marketing. He said that the risk of infection has far more to do with the technique used during surgery and the level of care that the surgeon takes to prevent it. In his experience, whether AMS or Titan, the infection risk is about the same.

*AMS can expand in length more than the Titan cylinders, so if I am concerned about loss of length I figured I should go with the AMS. My Dr agreed that the AMS cylinders are made of a different material which allows them to expand in length more than what Titan cylinders do, but he pointed out that loss of length is often attributed to other factors which lead to the implant in the first place, like prostate surgery, or if I had not been getting any erections at all for an extended amount of time then that can also cause length loss.
Ultimately he said that provided the cylinders are sized correctly and fitted correctly, an AMS will not give any extra length that you didnt have before and a Titan shouldnt cause you to be shorter than you were before - however, getting back to that pre-op size can take quite some time. He did concede though that getting the cylinder tips right up into the glans was not always possible (due to scar tissue I think??) and in that case there can be a loss of some length, but he didnt believe that would be a problem in my case.

*Titan cylinders are more durable and have a greater life expectency than AMS cylinders. I had read various things about this and apparently while its true the cylinders themselves are more durable, they are not the common failure point of the Titan setup, instead its the tubes at the pump (which are not as durable as the AMS)....so the end result is that the life expectency of both brands is apparently much the same. They just fail in different ways.

Ultimately what made me choose the Titan was when I asked my Dr what the difference in erection hardness was. He told me to imagine the most rigid erection I had ever had in my life, perhaps when I was 16 or 17yrs old. He said the Titan would most likely reach at least 95% of that, the AMS probably about 80%. When you have suffered with ED long enough, the mere mention of one choice being 'softer' than another choice was far too much risk for me. However, I have read quite a few posts on here where guys with Titans are only pumping them up to about 80% anyway because their wives/girlfriends cant handle it at max power!.....so who knows.

In any case I think no matter what you get it will be better than what you currently have. Consider what your Dr recommends first and foremost, but if you get a choice then there seem to be pros and cons to each.

I am only at day 17 post op and havent even inflated mine yet, but right now, definitely no regrets whatsoever.

[October26]

I told myself I was not even going to discuss the size issue and just accept what I got. I just wanted a dependable erection. My uro surgeon was very attuned to size and girth and discussed it it in detail. She also was the one to suggest a scrotoplasty to make the penis/scrotum look better and as some of you know, scrotoplasty is not covered by insurance unless done with the implant. Over all she was more interested in size and appearance than I was! In fact, when she came to see me in the hospital she told me she considered the look and size to be a very important part of the goal. I am glad she was and the whole process was smooth and very little discomfort.

[Blah1109]

I told myself I was not even going to discuss the size issue and just accept what I got. I just wanted a dependable erection. My uro surgeon was very attuned to size and girth and discussed it it in detail. She also was the one to suggest a scrotoplasty to make the penis/scrotum look better and as some of you know, scrotoplasty is not covered by insurance unless done with the implant. Over all she was more interested in size and appearance than I was! In fact, when she came to see me in the hospital she told me she considered the look and size to be a very important part of the goal. I am glad she was and the whole process was smooth and very little discomfort.

I guess yes you do have a point there our objective is to get an erection that were able to use. I'm trying to find information on the doctor this going to see but can't find reviews it's scaring me haha

[Blah1109]

Currently planning on getting a penile and being looking at the different type of device they have which one did you get and how do you like it

To be honest I think once you have made the decision to get an implant, picking which brand is a decision that is almost as difficult! My Dr does both brands and said it was my choice. The main things I had heard (and took into account) were:-

*AMS has a more natural looking flaccid, Titans tend to always seem semi erect. Although I have seen some posts from members who have a Titan and their flaccid looks as normal as any other.

*AMS has an impregnated antibacterial coating which is apparently superior to the Hydrophilic coating on the Titan. This almost sealed the deal for me as infection scares me to death, but my Dr was of the opinion this is mostly just marketing. He said that the risk of infection has far more to do with the technique used during surgery and the level of care that the surgeon takes to prevent it. In his experience, whether AMS or Titan, the infection risk is about the same.

*AMS can expand in length more than the Titan cylinders, so if I am concerned about loss of length I figured I should go with the AMS. My Dr agreed that the AMS cylinders are made of a different material which allows them to expand in length more than what Titan cylinders do, but he pointed out that loss of length is often attributed to other factors which lead to the implant in the first place, like prostate surgery, or if I had not been getting any erections at all for an extended amount of time then that can also cause length loss.
Ultimately he said that provided the cylinders are sized correctly and fitted correctly, an AMS will not give any extra length that you didnt have before and a Titan shouldnt cause you to be shorter than you were before - however, getting back to that pre-op size can take quite some time. He did concede though that getting the cylinder tips right up into the glans was not always possible (due to scar tissue I think??) and in that case there can be a loss of some length, but he didnt believe that would be a problem in my case.

*Titan cylinders are more durable and have a greater life expectency than AMS cylinders. I had read various things about this and apparently while its true the cylinders themselves are more durable, they are not the common failure point of the Titan setup, instead its the tubes at the pump (which are not as durable as the AMS)....so the end result is that the life expectency of both brands is apparently much the same. They just fail in different ways.

Ultimately what made me choose the Titan was when I asked my Dr what the difference in erection hardness was. He told me to imagine the most rigid erection I had ever had in my life, perhaps when I was 16 or 17yrs old. He said the Titan would most likely reach at least 95% of that, the AMS probably about 80%. When you have suffered with ED long enough, the mere mention of one choice being 'softer' than another choice was far too much risk for me. However, I have read quite a few posts on here where guys with Titans are only pumping them up to about 80% anyway because their wives/girlfriends cant handle it at max power!.....so who knows.

In any case I think no matter what you get it will be better than what you currently have. Consider what your Dr recommends first and foremost, but if you get a choice then there seem to be pros and cons to each.

I am only at day 17 post op and havent even inflated mine yet, but right now, definitely no regrets whatsoever.

Thank you so much for all that information that really gives me a vision on what each device is

[Blah1109]

How long did it take you from when you first decided to speak to the doctor about getting the procedure and how long did it take the insurance to approve and for the surgery to actually happen after it got approved

I decided I had finally had enough frustration about early October 2019.

I called my Urologist who does my TRT and ED meds. I told him I thought I was ready to go implant. He told me he thought it was time, and gave me the name of Doctor on staff who did IPP surgeries. I asked if he was any good. My regular urologist said he ought to be, he does quite a few (it’s a respected teaching hospital) and my regular urologist had taught him how.

I really like my regular urologist, he shoots straight, is in his mid-70s, and doesn’t do surgery anymore.

So I booked a consult, it took a week. Maybe 10 days to see him. We discussed options, I asked lots of questions, and he gave me his email to ask him anything else I thought of.

I was looking at a Feb 2020 surgery date.

In the meantime, my wife had a nasty bout with pneumonia in Nov 2019 which, in retrospect, really looked a lot like Covid. We hit our catastrophic cap for year. Anything I had done for rest of year would be paid 100% by insurance.

So I email doctor to discuss moving surgery earlier. Can’t do, schedule conflict. I ask about his sizing philosophy, told him I expected it to be aggressive but not stupid. It irritated him a bit and I got a lecture about the meaning of term aggressive in terms of surgery.

So by the end of November, I’m willing to look at other options. This is when I get a bit of luck. I called a Urologist/Implant Surgeon in a nearby big city who happens to be relatively high volume. Can’t get consult until February. They call me back at end of day, had cancellation for Dec 14. I’m getting hernia done on 17th. So I go see this guy. I liked him, he was honest with me, I told him about hernia repair on 17th Dec, ask if he can implant me before end of year. He schedules me for Dec 31st.

Happy New Year 2020 and I’m bionic.

No complaints or regrets, hospital and doctors billed $53K, the insurance paid and they accepted just under $18K. I got a bill for $2.84 for something. And they all lived happily ever after.

So in all it took less than 3 months and that included evaluating two different doctors.

The most important thing from an insurance perspective is the CPT code. I asked both what CPT code they would bill with (both were same) then called insurance carrier to make sure they would pay. Not only did they say they would pay, they told me that specific code didn’t even need a preauthorization before surgery .

Awesome hopefully I can get a quick date once I see him as well I meet my cap or insurance

[newbie443]

A couple of things to add to the above. For me finding a doctor that was as concerned about out come was the most difficult part. After that device choice is easy as your doctor will have the best advice.

About infection rate and coatings. This stems from a different coating that was first used for the Titan that did have a higher infection rate than the AMS. But a different coating was developed that is just as effective at infection prevention for the Titan as the one for the AMS is. Maybe even very very slightly better.

As far as cylinder durability again some of this data stems from an earlier version of the LGX. It had a different name and did have a lot higher number of cylinder failures.

Concerning tubing failures, I have read that Coloplast does not make the tubing they use in house as AMS does and they did have problems in the past with higher tubing failures. And there were some improvements made.

My understanding is that the doctor has more impact on all of these than does the product itself. Infection rate and longevity is very close on each with a really good doctor. As was said the cause for failure is just a bit different. The Titan will have less cylinder failures and more tubing failures. The AMS then will have more cylinder failures and less tubing failures. But they both have the same general longevity and infection rate with the current devices.

[Blah1109]

A couple of things to add to the above. For me finding a doctor that was as concerned about out come was the most difficult part. After that device choice is easy as your doctor will have the best advice.

About infection rate and coatings. This stems from a different coating that was first used for the Titan that did have a higher infection rate than the AMS. But a different coating was developed that is just as effective at infection prevention for the Titan as the one for the AMS is. Maybe even very very slightly better.

As far as cylinder durability again some of this data stems from an earlier version of the LGX. It had a different name and did have a lot higher number of cylinder failures.

Concerning tubing failures, I have read that Coloplast does not make the tubing they use in house as AMS does and they did have problems in the past with higher tubing failures. And there were some improvements made.

My understanding is that the doctor has more impact on all of these than does the product itself. Infection rate and longevity is very close on each with a really good doctor. As was said the cause for failure is just a bit different. The Titan will have less cylinder failures and more tubing failures. The AMS then will have more cylinder failures and less tubing failures. But they both have the same general longevity and infection rate with the current devices.

Thank you much for that information! I appreciate alot

[newbie443]

I told myself I was not even going to discuss the size issue and just accept what I got. I just wanted a dependable erection. My uro surgeon was very attuned to size and girth and discussed it it in detail. She also was the one to suggest a scrotoplasty to make the penis/scrotum look better and as some of you know, scrotoplasty is not covered by insurance unless done with the implant. Over all she was more interested in size and appearance than I was! In fact, when she came to see me in the hospital she told me she considered the look and size to be a very important part of the goal. I am glad she was and the whole process was smooth and very little discomfort.

I guess yes you do have a point there our objective is to get an erection that were able to use. I'm trying to find information on the doctor this going to see but can't find reviews it's scaring me haha

Have you tried "Health Grades"? Are you in the USA? Not sure if HG works out of USA but if it does work where you are at and you need help finding your way around it let me know.

[Blah1109]

I told myself I was not even going to discuss the size issue and just accept what I got. I just wanted a dependable erection. My uro surgeon was very attuned to size and girth and discussed it it in detail. She also was the one to suggest a scrotoplasty to make the penis/scrotum look better and as some of you know, scrotoplasty is not covered by insurance unless done with the implant. Over all she was more interested in size and appearance than I was! In fact, when she came to see me in the hospital she told me she considered the look and size to be a very important part of the goal. I am glad she was and the whole process was smooth and very little discomfort.

I guess yes you do have a point there our objective is to get an erection that were able to use. I'm trying to find information on the doctor this going to see but can't find reviews it's scaring me haha

Have you tried "Health Grades"? Are you in the USA? Not sure if HG works out of USA but if it does work where you are at and you need help finding your way around it let me know.

I just checked the website and there's no rating on him only one five star