Our Erectile Dysfunction Approach & Results

The Center for Reconstructive Urology and Dr. Gelman have absolutely no affiliations or financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies, impotence products, or any penile implant manufacturers. Many highly regarded Academic and Private Urologists do have these financial relationships, and these relationships are often considered appropriate. In Academic Medicine, Urologists who present at meetings are required to disclose financial relationships. However, on the internet, those relationships are generally not mentioned. This creates the potential for bias. Examples of potential bias include a profit from the sale of vacuum devices or injection medications, or a consulting relationship with AMS or Coloplast where lectures are sponsored as these talks seem to favor one product over the other and it always seems that the favored product is made by the sponsor. Since we do not accept any money from anyone in industry, you can be assured that our recommendations and your treatment will not be influenced by a potential conflict of interest. One of the most important components of our treatment is counseling. We do not “push” injections or implants or a particular therapy, but rather provide an objective explanation of all reasonable options, and the risks and benefits of each option.

For those men who select penile implants, a detailed discussion is especially valuable. A penile implant does restore the ability of a man to have sexual penetration when other options fail or are not desirable. However, the result of a successful surgery is not a normal erection identical to the erection the patient achieved prior to the onset of erectile dysfunction. The penile length is generally reduced and more similar to the stretched length of the penis when flaccid. Moreover, the glans or head of the penis remains soft as the cylinders do not enter the glans itself. The rigidity may also be less than what was previously experienced by the patient when he had normal erections. When patients do not have realistic expectations of the limitations in addition to the benefits of a penile implant, they will often be disappointed with the result, even when the outcome is a surgical technical success. Therefore, we make every effort to insure our patients have realistic expectations and the all of their questions are answered.Our surgical approach is individualized, especially when re-do or complex surgery is required. Our success rate is very high and we have a very low complication and infection rate, similar to other centers of excellence.