How does a penile implant work?

The surgery is very simple and common. It can even be done in several states of Brazil. Just to give you an idea, around 2,000 men receive a bionic penis every year around here. This type of procedure consists of reconstructing the male organ and is indicated for patients who are no longer able to have an erection using oral or injectable medications.

going under the knife

Procedure takes, on average, 40 minutes and allows for two types of bionic implants

1. The patient is shaved and given a dose of medicine against infections. Then, he is positioned with his legs apart on the operating table – where he receives a anesthesia place, from the waist down.

two. The incision, made between the base of the penis and the scrotum, does not exceed 3 cm. Through the cut, doctors insert tubes that serve to dilate the patient’s penis – which facilitates the positioning of the implant.

3. O implant is inserted. Two tubes are placed in the corpora cavernosa of the penis. In this process, the inner area is destroyed – so the surgery is irreparable. In the case of malleable implants, the procedure is completed at this stage. With the malleable implant, the tubes keep the penis stretched, leaving the patient with an erection for life.

4. As for the inflatable implants, a reservoir, made of plastic and measuring 15 cm in diameter, it is placed empty at the base of the abdomen. Afterwards, it is filled with 100 ml of salt water. A small button, which activates the movement of the fluid, is attached to the tube and is located at the bottom of the scrotum.

5. At the end of the surgery, the cut is sutured and the patient can go home in a maximum of 24 hours. The implant starts working in 40 days. And the best: the bionic penis, of both types, does not need to be changed – except in very rare cases of accidents that can happen during sex.

Up and down

The button needs to be pressed manually. Then the bionic penis does the work on its own

1 – The button activates the reservoir

2 – The water flows down through the cylinders

3 – The flow of water causes the erection of the penis

4 – The button makes the water retreat and the penis returns to the initial stage

CONSULTANCY Antônio de Moraes Júnior, urologist and general coordinator of the Department of Andrology at the Brazilian Society of Urology (SBU), and Andrew Kramer, urologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center