I was diagnosed with PD about 2.5 years ago. Today the pain is gone, and I have sex although my penis is never as hard as it was before. I was wondering what were the chances, if any, of the PD recurring?

Dr. Levine answers: Erectile dysfunction is commonly found with Peyronie’s disease. In fact in my own practice, 90% of the men with Peyronie’s disease have reported diminished erections. Fifty percent of the time this occurs before the Peyronie’s disease occurs and the other 50% occurs after onset of Peyronie’s disease deformity. Evaluation to date has suggested that the erectile dysfunction is likely due to the same causes as erectile dysfunction in men without Peyronie’s disease. That is vascular insufficiency. Most of the time it is an arterial insufficiency, sometimes it is a venous insufficiency or mixed problem. Erectile dysfunction can also occur as a result of psychogenic inhibition, which is also associated with Peyronie’s due to the devastating psychological effects of this disorder. If the erections were found to be suboptimal for sex, then a PDE-5 inhibitor medication such as Viagra, Levitra or Cialis are reasonable treatments with a low risk of making the Peyronie’s recur or worse. Peyronie’s disease usually has an acute progressive course and then stabilizes, but rarely completely resolves. I have seen a few men who have had multiple episodes of Peyronie’s over their life. Therefore for the great majority of men once it stabilizes it does not recur.