TOPIC: Lookingforanswers needs help/advice

Lookingforanswers has asked me to post these photos in the hope our members will be able to offer some advice.

The problem he has, as I understand it, is that the bump at the base if lump of thick scar tissue.

I'll leave it to him to explain the exact nature of the problem.

WTF
What is the problem here?

The problem in these pictures is the 2-3 Inch thick wall of scar tissue that it shows my hand holding to show how thick it is. I had an infection in the incision so the surgeon went back in and treated it with liquid antibiotics or removed some of the tissue that was infected. After going back in to get rid of the infection, a 2-3 Inch thick wall of scar tissue formed in the same area/incision site that the surgeon went back through.

I guess no one here has ever had issues with a 3 Inch thick wall of scar tissue in their pubic area, therefore they have never had to go to a surgeon to get it corrected or have any ideas, thoughts, or opinions on how difficult the surgery would be or what surgeon they would go to for the procedure. Hopefully if it happens to someone in the future they will be helped by my experience.

This appears to be some kind of abses. I would go to your normal Urologist and have him do a blood test, ultra sound and/or an MRI. Whatever you do, do not go see Dr. James Elist

Hi lookingforanswers,

Can you explain more please, what type of Phalloplasty was done ?? (i.e. the type of graft was used ??) And when ?? And who was your surgeon ???
It could be this thick scar tissue is just a severely retracted allo-graft (Alloderm or Belladerm or DFG) ?? I could be wrong.

Thank you for your questions smartman.

My procedure was done in 2010 and dermal graphs of my own tissue were used.

At this current time I am trying to get a couple of questions answered from Dr.Gelman's office, which I haven't heard from in 2 weeks. I also emailed Wade with a couple of questions and am waiting to hear back from him. Wade has done a very good job about getting back to me, so I'm guessing Dr.C's office will be the people I hear from first and get my questions answered. Depending on the answers I receive from both offices I will make my decision about which clinic I choose for my reconstruction.

I would strongly advise you to have a board certified Urologist in the USA perform surgery, like Gelman or Alter. I can not emphasize this enough. Odds of a good outcome in TJ are poor at best. Remember during healing, excised scar tissue is nearly always replaced by new scar tissue so you need an expert. How quickly do you thing Wade will be answering the phone after you have paid the doctor cash and things do not go as planned.. The doctors in Mexico will essentially be experimenting on you regardless of how much experience they claim they have.

The protrusion is quite prominent, do you have any pain or dysfunction ?

Thanks for your input Bigben, but my options are very limited. If you have read some of my previous posts you probably already know the reasons I am having to choose between two surgeons, which was until recently, but it is now looking like I might have only one choice.

It's definitely not an absess. It's either scar tissue from where the pubic incision didn't heal right because of the infection or it is migration of Alloderm as Smartman guessed. I also have three nodules of tissue in the shaft area that need to be removed.

There is a lot of loss of sensation on the topside of the shaft due to multiple times where a surgeon has made an incision, which is why I am being very careful and asking surgeons a lot of questions when it comes to the surgery and where the surgeon will be making the incision.

I know that it is easiest for the surgeons to use that same incision near the head of the penis because it is the closest entry point when it comes to getting the nodules of the shaft removed. I would be fine with the surgeon going through that incision again since the area is numb already, but if at all possible I do not want the surgeon making a larger incision in a different area causing more nerve damage.

I think in order to get best possible advise you need to be much more clear about exactly what procedures you've had to date and when you had each of them. You should also post much better photos. We need to see the entire penis and from all angles. We also need more details about how the scar tissue is restricting the penis in terms of function, length and curvature etc.

At the moment I think most of us are still unclear as to your exact history and the photos don't help that much. From those photos it would seem all that is needed is a simple scar Revision, but that obviously isn't the case.

Hi,
I too have had an absess in my scrotum that actually had infection within it. It was a protius bacterial and life threatning. Go to a good Urologist or go see Dr. Joel Gelman at UCI. He is in charge of the Urolgical Reconstructive Clinic. You can google him, he will help and accepts insurance.

Good luck

Hey Basque, I don't know if you read one of the replies to the message on this thread that says that I have been contacting Dr.Gelman's office? I know a lot of times we forget to read the current replies and threads that we are repling to, and I can understand that. In any case I am in contact with Dr.Gelman's office as stated in one of the previous replies. I do appreciate your suggestion Basque, I know you have been in a similar situation and understand the pain and suffering that comes with a botched surgery.