My Decision, AMS 700 Ultrex
I've done just a ton of research on implants and I'm starting to reach a little burn out. There are lots of repeat information on the web and it gets old real fast. There aren't too many 1st person accounts on the web either. The accounts on Yahoos penileimplant support pages kind of leans out from 1st person accounts of implant users who have long term experience with their implant for longer than 6 months. Unfortunately, men who have had a prostatectomy because of cancer, do loose real length of one to one and a half inches in the length of their penis, even with the AMS 700 Ultrix implant which expands in both length and girth. There is only so much that the implant can do for those of us who are living with ED. My ED started appearing in 1994 at age 39. I'm 52 now. I've had just over 13 years experience with ED and developed diabetes over 20 years ago. I am now on an insulin pump and have pretty good control of my blood sugars. But whether its prostate cancer or diabetes or high blood pressure damaging our ability to achieve an erection, and to enjoy normal sex, for some of us, viagra, cialis, and vardenafil stops working, or we develop a tolerance or scarring from injecting bi-mix. tri-mix, caverject, muse or some other combination of drugs to achieve an erection suitable for enjoying penetrative sex. We as men equate our erection as what it means to be a sexual man. And it comes down to having a penile implant as a means of achieving an erection suitably hard enough to accomplish penetrative sex. Penile implants are called the option of last resort because there is no going back once we've gone down that road as it destroyes the tissue in the corpora cavernosa. That is the tissue that fills with blood that we use to get hard. Yet, the implant enjoys the highest level of satisfaction of all the options available to men with ED. I've reached that point now as injections no longer do the job anymore. And because I've used bi-mix for about 13 years, I now am having fibrosis (scarring) in my penis that is easily felt. Scar tissue does not allow blood to fill the chambers of the corpora cavernosa, and scarring interferes with the implants ability to expand. So that is why it is important to pay attention to your penis if you inject vaso-dialators into your penis. If you feel hard nodules in the areas that you inject, you need to see a urologist or your primary care physican, swallow your embarassment; and ask the doctor to check your penis for scarring.
Insurance Plans & Implants
Guys, insurance companies need to have a letter of medical necessity from your doctor before approving an implant surgery. Doctors (Urologists) who perform penile implants, understand what is needed to document the need for an implant, and have skilled nurses and transcriptionist who have sample letters already prepared to obtain the required approval for your implant surgery. Most insurance companies are looking for evidence of a period of time experiencing ED, along with experience of at least trying different ED meds that haven't worked out or are no longer working. Don't worry a lot about the insurance company denying you because an erection is only needed for sex. ED is a body part that has failed and is a quality of life issue. If you have carpal tunnel, the insurance company can't deny you because you can still use your other hand. Courts have creamed insurance companies for trying to deny legitament claims for quality of life issues. Viagra is a prescriptive medicine and so can be denied, but an implant is a surgery to fix a body part that no longer works as it shouldand is a body part that atropies if not used on a regular basis. Implants have a proven history of use. Let your doctor fight with your insurance company. If the insurance company denies you, obtain a copy of the doctors letter, spend a few hundred bucks and let an attorney threaten a law suit against your insurance company. Your chances of getting an approval is pretty good. Hang in there. Bob