TOPIC: Why do fat grafts and PMMA harden? Could it be treated? (+DMSO Discussion)

Do you know if ACV (vinegar) or iodine make more sense for this situation? Is iodine more for dissolving fat?

If you use soap to clean the area, rinse thoroughly and dry. Remember you don\'t want anything on the skin, including soap residue.

I\'m having the same issue. I had the hardened bulging areas on the sides of my shaft taken care of by Dr C during my last touch up which he also added silicone micro droplets to smooth out the surface. I ended up getting a bacterial infection in my prostate which seems to have triggered an immune response and my implant swelled up and now the entire thing is hardening. It\'s like a turtle shell on my shaft. I\'ve been searching for things that can help soften it but I\'m not having any luck and have yet to hear back from Dr C or Wade.

Yeah, parts of it are like a shell - and right now most is like the density / firmness of chewed up gum. Because it\'s so dense, I think it may be affecting my erectile quality too.

Did they put you on doxycycline or minocycline? Both of those antibiotics are also anti-inflammatory...and have been used for stuff like this (less invasive and in the face, with 2-3 ccs of PMMA). Not sure they\'d treat a prostate infection, though. I read that you tried allopurinol in your journal, but I think that takes 1-4 months to have an effect on these problems, if it is going to work (not sure how reliable it is).

Check with Dr C first to make sure it\'s okay, but I really think DMSO would take care of this issue. Mix it with some iodine or apple cider vinegar. I had some rock hard lumps after surgery that wouldn\'t go away. Then I used DMSO and though the tissue is still there, it\'s now very soft. Just stick with it for several months.

Yeah I\'m on Doxy for 3 weeks. just over a week in so far. I\'m also cleaning up my diet as that helped the last time I had a flare up. No yeast, dairy, sugar, caffeine etc. I do lemon juice and baking soda every morning and loading up on probiotics. I also use coconut oil on the implant 3 times a day. Fingers crossed.

I couldn\'t use the allopurinol because it caused my joint s to flare up big time. Altho if I go back to Tj again for Ken. injections I will ask if he can Rx it again and gibe it another shot.

Thanks Hoddle. I am waiting for Dr C to call me back but I still have DMSO so I\'ll give that a whirl. Do you massage the DMSO and ACV into the area?

Red1975 wrote: Thanks Hoddle. I am waiting for Dr C to call me back but I still have DMSO so I\'ll give that a whirl. Do you massage the DMSO and ACV into the area?

There is no need to massage it. I used to apply it by sucking 4 parts DMSO and 1 part iodine into a syringe, then squirt it on to a Q-tip and then rubbing on the skin above the hard tissue.

Make sure the area is clean before applying and let it dry in the air for 10 minutes before putting clothes on.

Hmmmm... do you think dissolving some cortisone tablets into the DMSO would help? I wonder if the DMSO would deliver the cortisone into the implant enough to make a difference. I have a bunch of left over Cortef pills from my naturopath I guess it\'s worth a shot.

I think cortisone should be injected and only once every couple of months. I wouldn\'t think you could deliver it with DMSO, but it depends on the molecular weight.

I used DMSO 3 times daily for a couple of months. A syringe full would last 2 or 3 days and then it would need refilling. Sometimes I\'d mix with iodine and sometimes ACV. My skin would get very red and flaky sometimes if I used too strong of a concentration, but it never caused any real damage and would easily heal.

I don\'t think you really want to dissolve it anyway, more soften it. My scar tissue is now very soft and I\'m glad it\'s there as it gives me a bit more Girth. But prior to using DMSO it was like a rock hard lump on the side of penis for about a year and I hated it.

Red, cortisone applied like that could thin the skin & probably is unlikely to reach the nodules. They are fairly deep, since they are under the skin and the first layer of fascia. So, the cortisone would probably just sit on the skin. Even when directly injected, cortisone (as Kenalog) isn\'t that effective.

I\'ve never used DMSO for anything - but the comments about it are interesting on various sites. It\'s really promising that you managed to soften your scar tissue with it.

I\'m guessing the UK has different brands and sources of this - but is there any you\'d recommend? I\'m thinking just to look on amazon.

Is the worst that could happen just redness? I remember reading something about how it can facilitate the movement of chemicals into the skin, but I don\'t really get it. If the molecule is too big, it won\'t go under the skin (and the fascia). It sounds like DMSO is definitely penetrating. Do you think it was definitely that or just the fact that so much time went by? What I\'ve read is that fat grafts rarely soften up once they reach the hard state, so I\'m thinking it was that.

I\'d be so happy if there was an easy way to soften this stuff up without any more trips to TJ or injections (that don\'t work...I don\'t think). It\'s turning into quite a freakish situation...at least Flaccid. Erect, only one of them sticks out for now...and the other big one I just had cut out.

I know what you mean about the injections. I tend to wonder how effective it is myself. In my case it seems to be a large area that is inflamed and all one big flat chunk so maybe the injection will calm down the immune response. But I didn\'t find it did much for the random bumps and nodules. The best thing for those is going in with the cannula and breaking them apart. Maybe the fact that this is a giant flat raised surface will be better aesthetically in the end if it can soften up enough.

It\'s easy for me to get to SanDiego so I\'m probably going to go next week, but this will be my 7th visit to Avanti Derma and it\'s starting to get to me.

Restoration wrote: Red, cortisone applied like that could thin the skin & probably is unlikely to reach the nodules. They are fairly deep, since they are under the skin and the first layer of fascia. So, the cortisone would probably just sit on the skin. Even when directly injected, cortisone (as Kenalog) isn\'t that effective.

I\'ve never used DMSO for anything - but the comments about it are interesting on various sites. It\'s really promising that you managed to soften your scar tissue with it.

I\'m guessing the UK has different brands and sources of this - but is there any you\'d recommend? I\'m thinking just to look on amazon.

Is the worst that could happen just redness? I remember reading something about how it can facilitate the movement of chemicals into the skin, but I don\'t really get it. If the molecule is too big, it won\'t go under the skin (and the fascia). It sounds like DMSO is definitely penetrating. Do you think it was definitely that or just the fact that so much time went by? What I\'ve read is that fat grafts rarely soften up once they reach the hard state, so I\'m thinking it was that.

I\'d be so happy if there was an easy way to soften this stuff up without any more trips to TJ or injections (that don\'t work...I don\'t think). It\'s turning into quite a freakish situation...at least Flaccid. Erect, only one of them sticks out for now...and the other big one I just had cut out.

I used Jacobs Labs DMSO, which is American. I bought the 100% stuff and sucked 4 ml into a 5ml syringe. The other 1 ml would usually be iodine. You might have to play with the right mix, as like I said, it can irritate the skin and really sting. You might find you need more iodine or a touch of distilled water to dilute it a bit. I would suggest the 70% stuff but one of our member spoke to a chemist who said that wouldn\'t be strong enough.

I\'m 100% convinced it was the DMSO. It\'d had this hard lump for a year and then within a couple of weeks if using DMSO I noticed a difference. At first I thought it was a placebo effect, but it soon became apparent that it was getting softer. You can probably tell from my posts that I\'m a real skeptic by nature and try and talk people out of most things. Yet over the years I\'ve mentioned DMSO quite a few times and it\'s because I was so shocked and pleased at how well it worked.

But you need to be careful. Always make sure you penis is clean before applying and that the DMSO had absorbed and the skin is dry before letting it touch your clothes. I\'d walk round naked for 10 minutes when I did it. So often I could only do it twice a day, when I got up and before bed. I gets quite annoying after a while.

From what i gathered there are 2 possible reasons for hardening. The first is inadequate blood supply which causes tissue fibrosis which is one step above tissue death. When I had my graft taken out it was red and looked healthy but it was rock hard.

The second is a response from your body where it recognizes the graft as a foreign body and tries to dissolve it by surrounding it (it was told collagen but this may be a different issue) which cause it to harden. The later info i got from breast cancer sites where fat grafts are done in mastectomy patients.

They seems like to entirely unrelated reasons and I am not sure about the latter as much as the former which I got from Dr Reed. For smaller grafts that harden by the body\'s response several Dr.s on cancer websites mentioned that massaging will help the body to dissolve the hardened graft - mine were way to big for that.

ps be careful with DMSO as I burnt my skin so many times by putting too much on that was not diluted enough, it will burn your skin for certain.

I\'ve been using a Q-tip dipped in 3 parts 94% DMSO and 1 part Braggs ACV followed by a thin coating of emu oil. Once dry I apply a thin layer of castor oil. I applied 3 times yesterday and twice already today ( cleaning the surface completely prior to application ) This morning there was significant improvement in the overall swelling. The hardened area still feels the same but I guess it\'s still too early for a change there.