In a few cases, surgery may be an option to treat erection problems (erectile dysfunction). Surgery will rarely be recommended before nonsurgical treatment and counseling have been tried.

Surgery to repair the blood vessels of the penis may be an option for a small number of men younger than 40 who had an injury that caused poor blood flow to the penis. Surgery to repair blood vessels should only be done at a teaching hospital that has experts in this type of surgery.

Surgery on the pelvic area, such as prostate or bladder surgery, can sometimes damage nerves there and cause erection problems. But this is much less common than it used to be. For example, a surgeon now may do a nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy as treatment for prostate cancer. Some surgeons do nerve grafts as part of surgery for prostate cancer when the nerves cannot be saved. In a nerve graft surgery, the surgeon takes nerves from another part of your body and uses them to replace nerves damaged during surgery.

Surgery Choices

Penile implants

Surgery on penile blood vessels

What To Think About

Give careful consideration to nonsurgical options and to the possible risks of surgery. Include your partner in your decision.

Doctors who specialize in conditions of the urinary tract (urologists) perform most penile implants. Specially trained urologic surgeons usually do blood vessel repair surgery.