TOPIC: Wound closure - the bad and then the GOOD!

Bigben wrote: About 2 yrs ago a guy here reported having his entire penis skin replaced this way by Dr Gelman. The result looked really good and he sounded happy. I was surprised given how extensive the surgery was. You might want to look at that report and possibly contact Gelman on the phone. His practice is at UC irvine.

phalloboards.websitetoolbox.com/post/epi...44160#post1276244160

That does not look good.

There is absolutely no need to Restoration to be even considering the need for a skin graft, let alone contacting Dr Gelman.

When people have had stressful experiences, it\'s easy to put unnecessary ideas in their heads. The last thing Restoration needs is to have it suggested that he should look into the idea of a skin graft. At the very most he\'d need to wear a T-tape for a few months.

Even if he did need surgery, which he absolutely will not, then I seriously doubt a skin graft is the bets option. A flap advancement, such as a Z-plasty, at the base would seem like the most obvious solution. But that\'s not going to be necessary.

I took a look at Gelman\'s site a few days ago just out of curiosity since I remembered that name. I forgot about basque... but the extent of his damage sounded incredibly severe. There must have been considerable damage throughout the penis to make something like grafting of that extent an acceptable \"trade off\".

I might need something to stretch the right side, though I keep getting morning erections and it seems like they might be okay - it\'s hard to tell with the bandage on...what is happening beneath.

My BPEL was 6.5 somehow this AM which shocked me because it was 4.5-5 last time... so I maybe I\'ll sleep without gauze on tonight (it hasn\'t been bleeding anyway). Though naturally I won\'t wake up with an Erection now! I refuse to force myself to have one since I am still healing.

Hoodle, I googled T-tape but it comes up as something to irrigate crops..? lol what is it?

I\'m not doing anything that my uro or Dr. Alter don\'t explicitly say...and I don\'t think this will be until the fall, unless it\'s scar management that is sometimes good to start earlier as the scar matures (silicone sheets or whatever).

As weird as it sounds, having this section of my penis cut out made my stress levels go down. Walking around with an open wound on your penis (and having to keep it dressed and protected with antibiotic creams) - and not knowing wtf is going to happen (will it spread, will it get infected) was awful. My doc literally said to me (as if reading my mind) \"do you really want to walk around with this thing another 6 months and then have me just cut it out again like I can do now?\" And so, that was the green light.

Here\'s yesterday (the only weird thing with the scar is where is folds up into the shape of lips or something - you see that?):





(yes i am very hairy - leave me alone, i\'ve been through enough )

Hey Restoration that is a super clean suture. I would consider yourself through the crisis! Just put the bacitracin on until it heals and then switch to scar treatment which you probably won\'t need. It looks like it will blend with your Circumcision line perfectly.

Yeah I think it looks good... I wonder if they can put some surgical/skin glue on it when they take the stitches out. I am so scared of another wound separation. Steri strips are better for superficial wounds. At least I have some buried Sutures that will dissolve, though they loose strength fast.

I did some searching and found the american society of plastic surgeons president Dr. Rohich (sp?) did a study that Rutin + Grapeseed extract + vit c actually increased healing at a statistically significant percentage, so I will give this a try too.

www.restoringforeskin.org/public/foreski...ing-methods/t-taping

The internal Sutures are not as strong as original, but they are still VERY strong otherise you would see blood in the morning after nocturnal erections. The ridge is very normal and looks fine. It will gradually soften over the months and full sensation will return. You have nothing to worry about. I am sorry if I caused any distress with my previous post. My intention was to show that even if you had a much more serious issue like Basque, there are options available. Clearly though, my memory was a little foggy and my post did not convey that message. I am very confident this will be your last surgery and you will be happy with the result. Be patient, time is on your side, and we are here to support you !

Resto, looking good man. Vitamin C as you know will improve your immune system so keep taking it..

You have positive energy from all the members here, so you will be fine dude

Thanks guys! Stitches are coming out soon... and I guess vertical mattress Sutures are known to scar more, but whatever. It is what it is at this point.

Hoodle - that Foreskin tape was some serious oragami...lol. I have to take a closer look at that later on if I need it . I hope not ... I\'ll ask them what they think. I tried to set up a phone consult with Alter, but I\'m still waiting. I just wanted his opinion, and it\'s not that expensive.

Thats ok Bigben, I read his story - and he had multiple infections and procedures that must have made all of the tissue non-viable by the end.

I\'d say the main thing to learn fro this is not to try to access PMMA from in the shaft and if you DO - you MUST have the doc evert the skin edges when closing so it stays closed (\"evert\" means to fold the inside up to meet the other side). And no silk Sutures (which are never used anyway) since those don\'t hold and cause reactions. Simple Sutures run the risk of letting the PMMA tissue (which is apparently \"all over the place\" and seemed to piss off my Urologist who has been at this for 30+ years) prevent normal wound closure.

Dr Alter told me he has excised PMMA from guys before (not sure if it was full penis or just nodules..) I would recommend emailing him pictures before the call if you schedule a phone consult so you get the most benefit from your time. He was upfront, honest, and surgically conservative, in all of my experience with him.

Regarding your comment, PMMA aside, penile Sutures are a little tricky because of the erections we get. So different doctors use different approaches. I don\'t know enough to say which technique is best though.

Hi Restoration,
Maybe you have thought of this already but if you are lacking for skin on the side that the doctor excised from you could always do manual Foreskin restoration (tugging) on that side to make up for it and get a bit more slack. Looks good btw.

Thanks sidelined - yeah that is what hoodle mentioned too. It actually looks like I lost a little less skin. The freckle was hiding under the stitch. Just got the stitches out today - so here it is now. No freaking hole anymore. NO HOLE. I just have to watch it closely and no activity for a long time. It can reopen...though the doctor was pretty amazed at how well and fast it healed. I am too, a little bit...and all this didn\'t really hurt either.

.

It looks brilliant. Personally I\'d start wearing silicone gel sheets, but I scar badly, so am particularly cautious.

Please don\'t spend money on a phone consult with Gary Alter. No more Dr\'s opinions (other than your surgeons) for at least 3 months. And by then you wont need anyone\'s opinion.

Yeah I agree (and thanks!). I\'m done with doctors for a while...for my own sanity, I\'ve got to be done...even though sometimes I convince myself that the more opinions I get, the more assured I\'ll feel. I thought it would be interesting to hear what he thought, but at the time I called, I asked if it was even worth the consult since it is healing healing. He agreed I need to just wait...and I can\'t go to docs anymore.

My uro mentioned that his pathologist never saw anything like this before - despite the nature of this hospital (large academic) and how experienced he is. He said he ran into the pathologist who was shocked by it and asked what on earth that was. They couldn\'t believe how much scar got produced from the tiny PMMA beads - or what the PMMA beads even were. I suppose if I lived in Miami, they\'d know. But, the Nodule was pretty huge for the tiny amount of PMMA in there. If these nodules were spread evenly through my shaft, I would\'ve had great gains...the mystery of that will never be solved.

It got diagnosed again as a FBG because of the Nodule in the underside of the shaft. The report is pretty brief \"skin and soft tissue with scar and foreign body granulomatous inflammation\". The uro asked if I even wanted to bother with the pathology report - but I figured I would do it just in case. He did a culture, but he never mentioned it - so I am guessing it was negative for whatever.

Your scar looks like it has been healing for 8 months already - you will probably not even see it 4-5 months from now. Mederma makes a silicon liquid that dries on to heal scars but I never used it regularly enough to see if it works. You look great though.

Wow. That looks really good. Congratulations and happy healing. Hope you can enjoy some hard earned peace of mind.