The history of Peyronie’s disease
The disease Peyronie’s disease (IPP, Induratio Penis Plastica), which as a rule causes a curvature of the penis, has been known to the medical field for a long time already. There are references to it in specialist literature as early as 1561. The physicians Fallopius and Vesalius were among the pioneers who reported on the disease of curvature of the penis. However, curvature of the penis was first described in detail by the French physician Francois de la Peyronie, a surgeon at the court of King Louis XV, in 1743. This is why the disease is also commonly referred to as ‘Peyronie’s disease‘ in English.
Similarities in the way tissue is altered through Peyronie’s disease and Dupuytren’s contracture of the hand were later noted by Sir James Paget.
The first surgical operation to treat Peyronie’s disease was performed in 1882. The removal of the plaque resulting from IPP in its entirety and insertion of new tissue was first performed by O. S. Lowsley in 1943. In 1965, R. M. Nesbit introduced his simpler tucking technique that would indeed straighten the penis but unfortunately would also shorten it significantly.
