Strategies for maintaining penile size following penile implant

Loss of penile size is a common complaint that can negatively affect patient satisfaction rates following successful penile prosthetic implant surgery.

The aim of this review is to describe the various strategies that have been used to maintain penile length or girth after the insertion of a penile prosthetic implant.

An extensive systematic literature review was performed, based on a search of the PUBMED database for articles published between 2002 to 2012. The following key words were used: penile prosthesis, implant, penile length, size, penis, enhancement, enlargement, phalloplasty, girth, lengthening, and augmentation. Only English-language articles that were related to penile prosthetic surgery and penile size were sought.

Based on the results of our search, strategies were classified into 3 groups based on the timepoint in relation to the primary penile prosthetic insertion surgery, which included pre-insertion, intraoperative and post-insertion.

Strategies to preserve and potentially increase penile size are of great importance to all implanters. Besides traction therapies and surgeries to enhance perceived penile size, refinements in the surgical approach are simple ways to optimize penile length. A direct comparison of treatment outcomes evaluating the various approaches is not currently possible, owing to divergent study techniques. The implanting surgeon can best serve his patient by adopting a combination of different strategies that are individualized and specific to the patient's needs.