2 wks after surgery swelling

[Dave48003]

Jerry:

Glad to hear there isn't any infection or anything else out of the ordinary. I was so concerned that I was overinflated the 1st night in the hospital that I had the nurse calling the doctor. Bottom line, this is a new experience and we don't know what to expect. They actually found a nurse that had an implant and had him come and visit me. I asked him to check out my new toy and he told me it was fine, that it was going to be quite firm from now on. Made me feel a whole lot better!

One tip, pump him up in the shower (or tub) when you are warm, it will ease the pain. Pushing the implant against the glans by inflating it will toughen him up and make it less tender when you start having sex. Try to do that daily if you can, if its too tender skip a day, but as they say, no pain, no gain! I have had very little discomfort during sex. I know of a couple of guys who didn't inflate like I did and they were much more tender.

Enjoy, my bionic brother!

Dave

[Den5576]

To All, I was at Dr. Eid's office today to ask them about my additional swelling and itching. He said it was normal, things looked good .... After his examination, to my surprise, he inflated the implant to check things out.... I then deflated it and inflated it myself to give a try and kept it inflated only for a few minutes as I was getting sore. Its less than 3 weeks from surgery.... Although he said I could use it, Im going to wait a few days for things to calm things down as Im sore.

OK guys, I don't understand something here. Ever since my surgery, March 13th, Dr. Garber said, No sex of any kind until at least the six week mark and i approve it. Also, no pumping up or letting him down. Another wards, leave your hands off him unil he has a chance to heal for at least six weeks. However, here we see Jerry's doctor pumping him up and down, jerry pumping himself up and down and getting the green light to use it at less then the three week mark. I also know that I have read posts of others here at FT who have had an experience with their doctor along the same lines of instruction as Jerry has.

How can the advise of the doctors be so different? I know we men are all different but implant surgery is more or less the same for all of us. And while I can see there may be a little difference in doctor's advise, less then three weeks vs. at least six weeks seems excessive. I would really like to hear thoughts on this from some of you guys who have been a part of the Brotherhood for some time and have more wisdom in all of this.

Thanks so much,
Den

[Frank Talk Admin]

It is all about how conservative your doctor is. The earlier date of activation and pumping is a fairly recent move when, after studies came out, they found that 6 weeks was often too long and scar tissue formed and the implants could not inflate to their fullest potential. This stuff is always changing. But you can certainly bring it up to your doctor. See what he has to say. I think all would agree that the worst case scenario is not worth the few weeks that you doc wants you to wait.
Paul

[rlm1818]

Well, I'm just another semi-ignorant patient, so please do not take my comments as the gospel. My impression is that scar tissue starts to form around all the components almost immediately.

To the extent the cylinders are inflated, the fluid reservoir is deflated. Scar tissue forming around a partly deflated reservoir makes it harder to fully inflate it, which translates into more difficulty deflating the cylinders into a fully flaccid state.

Leaving the cylinders fully deflated results in scar tissue forming around them, making it harder to fully inflate them, eventually. I was told that if the cylinders are fully deflated initially, if they are subsequently fully inflated early enough, the scar tissue around them will break up, though it may be painful at first.

If this is correct, the surgeon faces a series of trade-offs when in comes to the question of how much initial inflation there should be, when the inflation amount is adjusted, how soon to start cycling the unit, etc. I have read of at least one surgeon who, in most cases, has his patients begin cycling the unit as early as day 3. Presumably that tends to prevent scar tissue that adversely affects subsequent operation. However, its quite painful, and some of those patients report being on strong percocet for quite a while. So, another tradeoff there.

Another factor is the degree of cutting that takes place during the procedure, and the amount of time needed for that to heal, which varies patient to patient. I have heard one surgeon say that depending on all these factors, plus other differences in individual healing rates, that patients can be ready for sex in as little as 3 weeks, or as much as 8 weeks or more.

I guess I might slightly disagree with Paul, in that I'm nor sure its simply a question of how "conservative" the doctor is, but rather how he evaluates the tradeoffs. I'd be surprised if, in the final analysis, there was a radical difference in outcomes based on the differences in approach.

I'm speculating here, but I'd guess that since Dr Eid saw Jerry in person, and was able to evaluate his status, and combine that with his knowledge of what has involved with his specific surgery, that pumping early was ok in his case. I know, as I am another patient of Dr Eids, that he does not normally suggest pumping at this early stage. If every patient had much more frequent post-op followups, I'd guess the recommendations from the surgeons would be much more individually tailored to their individual situations. Most likely, more frequent followups are just not worth it in general.

[jerryc129]

Just a follow up to the questions of why I was activated after 2.5 weeks post surgery. Since I went in to see them on 3/6 to voice my concern about swelling in the shaft, Dr. Eid examed me, saw no sign of infection, inflated the implant to see the state of the erection and see if the swelling had an effect on it. He said it looks great and a really good erection was obtained. I didnt lose any length..stayed about 6.5. I did get some swelling around/under the head where my foreskin used to be. I did inflate again yesterday for a few minutes to see if I can do this in the privacy of my home. It worked great, and I was sore while inflated at the tips of the cylinders, which is normal. Once deflated, a little bit of the same swelling but no pain occured in the foreskin band. This gave me a thought of having patience with this. Although he gave me the go-ahead to use it, Im not going to until 4/5 when I go see him again for my official activation/final exam. I will call Sylvia in their office on Monday to let them know Im not going to use it and get their opinion as well. Id rather wait, let any remaining soreness/swelling dissipate. Although I think everyone's healing situation is different after post op, Ive made a decision to let things calm down until 4/5. Yes, Dr Eid gave me the go ahead and I have tried it out on my own but I don't want to get the foreskin band swelling so Im going to wait. On a side note..I have no pain, no swelling in my scrotum, and only take 2 advil in the morning to start the day. The best thing is ..you get an erection like a steel bar. Question..when does the sensitivity come back? I still have some numbness. Im sure it takes awhile.

[LGX_Man]

Here's a response to Den5576 and anyone else who cares to read it. My doctor inflated me at 10 days for the specific reason of avoiding excess scar tissue growth. He told me to work this thing as much as I could to avoid the scar tissue for at least 6 months. Scar tissue had pretty much fully set in by 3-4 months with me so I'm glad I followed his advice. My implant has been extremely successful and here's why...

here's the info about the implant that I got: http://www.amslgx.com

I found that if you do everything that the implant company recommends, including inflating it to the max at least twice a day for as long as you can take it, and keeping it worked so that you avoid the scar tissue taking over the new chambers and elsewhere.... that you will have LOTS of success. I have done everything recommended and can get it pumped up to the maximum length that my doctor said I'd have. I got a 21 cm. LGX and 3 cm. worth of extenders for the body end of the implant. 1 centimeter = 0.393700787 inches. Therefore, my 24 cm. = 9.4488168 inches. So let's say 9.5 inches for the ease of use here. I'm am not sure how far back the implant is set into the body, with the extenders, etc. (seemed to be set in pretty far back) But I now have nearly 7 inches and 6" circumference at 15 months post-op. It's almost scary big compared to my old shriveled up penis that I had during my decades of ED!

When the new chambers of the LGX went thru the center of my old Corpora Cavernosa, the old CC then became walls around the new chambers, increasing my girth dramatically. By inflating and working my new chambers on a regular basis (by "working", i mean basically the action of masturbation. THIS is how you keep the scar tissue from cementing in the chambers. This is SO IMPORTANT GUYS! (Sorry, if you have a problem with masturbation, then you should NOT get an implant... this is that IMPORTANT!) I merely do it as an exercise and push the ends of the chambers into my GLANS (head of penis) often, so that it's good and ready when the job at hand needs to get done. It has been a lot of work but SO WORTH IT. I take a shower at the gym everyday and work it for 20 minutes (private showers) and then I work it at night for about 20 to 30 minutes or nowadays, during long-lasting sex. I didn't whine and stop inflating when it hurt at first and neither should you. If you're going to get the implant, then promise yourself that you'll do everything needed to get the implant as strong and ready as it can get for the very important task that it was designed to do. Sex! You need to make a commitment. If you fail in your commitment, then your implant will not be as good as it could have been and you will have nobody to blame but yourself.

I've read many reports on here from men who complain about this and that ... loss of size, not being able to get more than 5 or 6 pumps into their implant. I usually find that these guys DID NOT DO THE WORK NECESSARY to have a successful implant. Granted, the doctor needs to give you the correctly sized implant to get your length back and YOU need to get the Drs. assurance that this will be done. BUT YOU NEED TO WORK IT once it's installed!!! (has this point sunk in yet?)

I have now gotten as many as 80 pumps into my implant. How do I get so many pumps into it? I have WORKED IT and kept the scar tissue from taking over and cementing this thing in so there is LOTS OF ROOM TO EXPAND. I think that I pretty much maxed out the reservoir bag BUT with the 80 pumps, this thing gets HUGE! Exciting as heck. My life will never be the same as it used to be.

Implants CAN be a good thing when you do it with a good doctor, assurances from that doctor, and taking care of it as it's supposed to be taken care of. And that last point is the MOST IMPORTANT! Seriously!!!

Wishing you all happy and hard times!

LGX_Man

I am not a representative of any company and individual penis' may vary. I did the work, it worked for me and I just want you to know how to make yours work as well as it can, if YOU will do the work.
LGX_Man

[bob1138]

You are doing extremely well in your healing process Jerry.
Best of luck with your new Implant.

Bob