Surgery with Dr. Hakky next month - have a couple questions

[Old Guy]

As far as Titan vs AMS. He certainly seems to have a preference for Titans. I think people are generally happy with either assuming a good surgeon. I still haven't made up my mind...

Titan vs AMS is a toss-up it seems. As long as it works as it should every guy is happy with their implant.
I have been happy with my Titan.

[Rider1400]

I chose a Dr that did infrapubic and . . . it only takes less than 30 minutes!

This is another reason why I chose IP. The time estimates I got for PS I got was 2.5 hours (150 mins) vs 30 mins for IP. Since both are done under general, the shorter the time of anesthetia to me, the better.

My doc still used a cathether but I stayed overnight & it was removed the day after. Given the amount of pee that I passed and the # of times the nurses had to empty the reservoir, I'm glad it was used. Same for the drain that was also installed overnight and removed the day after.

My Dr had to go out of town the following day of my surgery so he just told me to go on home (300mikes drive) and come back in a week. He left the drain in the whole week which kept all swelling out of my scrotum. Turns out a good thing, I healed very quickly and had almost no swelling.

[PaulBunyan]

Thanks to all for the comments. Sorry for mangling the "Suprapubic" vs "Infrapubic" thing.

As Reshuffle said, Dr. Hakky told me that he does about 50/50 IP vs. PS and that it's really up to the patient in most cases. I pressed him on whether it mattered to him as a surgeon or if he thought one was better than the other and he was quite insistent that he's so familiar with both approaches that it doesn't really matter to him and that he expects a good outcome either way, though IP heals faster and PS doesn't have as visible a scar. He also suggested that keeping the IP incision clean during healing is a little easier as it's more accessible. He didn't speak of any difference in the duration of the surgery or the type of anesthesia with one approach vs. the other.

He did recommend Titan over AMS, though he did mention the dog ears as a thing that some patients find annoying, and I got the sense that if I had said that was a deal-breaker he would be OK with using AMS. I didn't ask about exactly why he prefers Titan in my case. He's obviously a very experienced surgeon and my instinct is to take his advice on just about everything here, though I might follow up to get a little more clarity on what went into that recommendation.

For those of you who are considering Dr. Hakky, I would urge you to meet with him as he is very open and informative about the whole thing. My wife came with me to my second appointment and he answered her questions as well. After meeting with him, she was also impressed and I think she now feels better about the surgery, which is definitely a good thing all around.

For those of you who are on the fence about the whole thing, it's too soon for me to report a happy ending here, but all indications are good so far. I'm incredibly fortunate to have a loving wife (of 36 years) who is supporting me in all this. One thing that may be overlooked in some of these discussions is the dynamic between you and your partner leading up to seeing a doctor, before the surgery, and then after. We now find ourselves talking more openly about the kinds of things that we don't (i.e. can't) do anymore because of my ED, and we've started to have some fun conversations about the kinds of things we'll be able to do again.

As someone who still has some occasional erections, I think I've been holding out on surgery because I felt we would lose the "spontaneity" by having to pause and use the pump. In talking to my wife about it, I've come to see that at this point "spontaneous" means "only doing something on those occasions when I'm ready, and then doing it without delay and without trying anything different because it might fail at any minute". As we imagine life with the implant, we can see that other than the minute or so of pumping, the spontaneity and options go way, way up if this thing works the way it's supposed to. Once I realized that, I started feeling a lot better about the surgery.

Thanks again to all for the comments.

[Eharrison]

I'm 8 weeks post-op with Dr. Hakky. I chose infrapubic and specifically asked for no staples and that he use his best plastic surgeon incision. At 8 weeks the scar is looking good and with time I think it will be excellent. In so far as implants, I chose the Titan and he upsized me at my request. I am very happy with the outcome. I won't hide the fact that the first 5 weeks were rough insofar as pain and uncomfortableness. He warned me that up-sizing would be more painful for the first 6 weeks. I'm pumping to the max twice daily using the Perito exercise and I'm extremely happy with the results. Dr. Hakky is a skilled surgeon and you should feel comfortable in his hands.

[sswinsfba]

Thanks to all for the comments.

@PaulBunyan: Please note the PM that I sent you.

[Flounder]

Regarding the IP scar; My advice is consider your own skin type and past history of scarring if a visible scar is a concern. Pics (good or bad) of some other guy’s IP scar provides little indication of the scar you might have. I seriously considered IP but decided against it because I know my skin type scars easily and I manscape down there. I’m 3 months post PS surgery and my scrotal incision is invisible. Here is a link to a good article about skin type vs. scarring potential. https://www.jobskin.co.uk/scars-and-skin-types-the-fitzpatrick-scale#:~:text=Type%203%20skin%20has%20a,Type%204%20skin%20scars%20easily.
Just something to consider in your overall decision making process.

3 - How big a problem are "dog ears"? I think Dr. Hakky wants to use the Titan which I believe has more of a problem with this. Is it really a thing?

It is a thing - more so early on. Less so at 3 months and I expect it will continue to improve as the cylinders continue to break in. It’s manageable by keeping a couple pumps in as previously mentioned.

[sswinsfba]

As someone who still has some occasional erections, I think I've been holding out on surgery because I felt we would lose the "spontaneity" by having to pause and use the pump. In talking to my wife about it, I've come to see that at this point "spontaneous" means "only doing something on those occasions when I'm ready, and then doing it without delay and without trying anything different because it might fail at any minute".

As we imagine life with the implant, we can see that other than the minute or so of pumping, the spontaneity and options go way, way up if this thing works the way it's supposed to. Once I realized that, I started feeling a lot better about the surgery.

FYI, it currently takes me less than 30 sec to properly position and then fully inflate my implant,which is of "average" size, with about 20 sqeezes of the pump. About 5-10 secs to position it and 20 secs to inflate it.

I've read some guys mention that they pre-inflate theirs in anticipation of sex and then fully inflate it discretely while in bed during foreplay, which isn't a problem as long as you can do it one handed.

I still need 2 hands to properly position the pump in my hand but, once that's done, I only need that hand to inflate the implant to max.

I just need to work a little more on positioning the pump one-handed. LOL!