Does V.A. pay for vacuum pumps or do they provide them directly

[Lost Sheep]

The Veteran's Administration Vacuum Erection Device (a manual device, but that is fine with me) arrived in the mail a week ago and I have been exercising my tissues since, according to the protocol I found in a medical journal paper. It has restored about a half-inch of length and some girth. Maybe too much girth?

I may have overdone it yesterday.

My penis took on a slight "hourglass" shape inside the vacuum device. The shaft near the head was larger diameter than the shaft near my body. And when deflated there is excess "stretched-out" skin there. It looks like my penis has a goiter.

There is no discoloration, so I do not suspect hematoma (burst blood vessel) and there is no evidence of petechiae (small blood vessels leaking under the skin).

Anyone have this experience? Might I expect it to go away, subside? Should I be concerned?

Thanks for any experiences you can relate to me.

Lost Sheep

[dtwarren1942]

You have what is called the "doughnut" effect. It is caused by pumping at too much vacuum and/or remaining too long under vacuum. When you do this you are causing an excess amount of fluid to collect inside the penile cells, aka edema. It usually dissipates over a few hours without any negative impact on your penis.

[Lost Sheep]

Thanks, that is much appreciated and very reassuring. What a relief!

I waited decades before recognizing my E.D. and more tha another half-decade before taking any action at all. Now that I have taken the first tangible steps, I tried to run before I could walk.

What I learned from reading medical journals, from YouTube, internet sources and this forum was all academic. The reality took me by storm. I will take the storm more carefully when the swelling goes down.

But the progress I was making was REALLY encouraging.

Lost Sheep

[Lost Sheep]

The "goiter" went down 90% with one day of not pumping and on the second day is visually absent.

Thank you, dtwarren1942 and the internet which provided some sources that has induced me to change the pumping protocol

Originally, I followed a protocol outlined in a paper I found which involved pumping until a burning sensation halted me, then waiting a bit and pumping some more. Then remaining inflated for 10 minutes.

Now, I am using a protocol I found online which concentrates less on stretching tissue (as above) but on cycling fresh blood supply into and out of the penis.

Pump (vacuum) until an erection is achieved, hold for one minute, then deflate (relieve the vacuum). Repeat several times.

My maximum length using the former method was 3/4 inch or more longer than my natural erection and girth substantially greater (albeit not stiff enough for coitus, it was very close to my pre-E.D. length and much greater girth, if memory serves). With the vacuum-and-release method, I am a bit short of a full erection for most of the time, but feel it will be safer. I do hope for some length restoration/retention over the next few weeks, until my implant surgery.

Lost Sheep

p.s. I noticed, but had no measurements for comparison, that the glans/head of my penis seemed to be more affected by the extreme vacuum than the shaft. I guess the tissues in the shaft are ultimatly (at the extreme) less elastic than the glans. This makes sense, as that limit to the elasticity would be what provides the rigidity of the shaft.