Restricted blood flow to penis because of upwards curve

[Male19]

Hi, I'm a 19 year old male, I eat healthy food and life a healthy life, and I am healthy, except when it comes to my penis...In several years I have noticed that my penis is bended way more upwards when erected than what's normal, not to mention, healthy, and when I say that its an upward bend I mean that is basically parallell to my torso. When it is erected it almost points straight up, which makes it practically impossible to have intercourse, at that point the penis is rock hard, and not flexible at all. When I then carefully tries to bend the penis further down to be able to have intercourse, it quickly becomes soft because the blood flow kinda gets cut off/restricted from the root of the penis. I have read about peyronies disease but i don't think that's the case because the bend seems way to natural to be peyronies. It's like the bend goes all the way down the "penile bone". Even when I'm soft I can feel that something is not right in the root of the penis. So it  would be nice to sort of soften it up a bit at the root of the penis or anything to make it less bended and still allow the blood to access my penis. All I want is the opportunity to have a somewhat normal sexlife, and I feel that if I don't find a solution to my problem now then my sex life will be over for good because off all the anger and frustration this problem brings me. So please, if anyone has experienced this before, heard of it, or maybe if you just know a few tips or tricks, please comment, anything will help. Please. Thank you.

[Helper015]

Hey man, it sounds like to me that your penis from the base, the entire shaft and head, and all just points upward, parallel or basically parallel with your torso, but that there is no actual bend mid way or anywhere along the penis.  Did I read your post correctly?  Peyronie's is when the penis itself is not straight.  Your penis sounds perfectly straight but it just does not point out away from your body, it points up towards your face, right?

If I read that correctly then you are describing the healthiest a penis can be!  PLEASE do not mess with that.  If you mess with this, you'll regret it.  If you've seen porn etc, yes a lot of guys in porn have their penis pointing straight out.  There is a risky surgery to do that, so perhaps they've done that or their penises are just not as healthy as yours.  

Also when you describe it being rock hard, with no flexibility, that is also the healthiest a penis can be!  Any softness at all while erect is a sign of a problem.  You do not want the penis to get "a little" softer (the girl does not want that either).  That would mean you are damaging it.  So do not try to do that.  A softer penis also will mean a smaller penis.  The way the hardness works is it's about tissue expansion.  When the penile tissue is fully expanded, it is trapping the blood inside the most, keeping it the fullest, thus hardest.  If you cause some damage, creating "venous leak" for example, the penis will be softer, but also this means less fully expanded, so smaller.

Blood rushes into your penis when your body gets the nerve signals to do so, and this blood causes the tissue in your penis to expand.  The tissue expands pinching the veins in your penis shut.  Veins take blood out of your penis and back to your heart, so you want the veins closed so the blood stays inside your penis, so you can be rock hard and stay rock hard for as long as you need.  Then when you are done, and arousal goes away, then the tissue starts to retract, the veins open up again, and then the blood can leave the penis.  If the tissue gets internal scarring, for example, it will not be able to expand as well, and will leave the veins open to some extent, so some blood will exit the penis, making it less hard, and less able to maintain an erection (Erectile Disfunction).  Too much damage, and the tissue will expand so little, that as soon as blood rushes in, it rushes right back out, and people don't get an erection at all etc.  So softness is a sign of a problem.

You can still have sex with your penis the way it is, you just have to be fairly parallel to the girl, so basically be over top of her like that.  If you want her over top of you, please be careful, but she'd have to go with your anatomy.  You may not be able to stand up with her laying down.

Be careful that the girl knows not to pull it so far down, as that can cause scarring at the base.  Same if you masturbate - which has risks no matter what - but at least do not pull it away from your torso against how it naturally goes.

You said you feel something is wrong with it at the base.  Trust your body and if you want to make double sure, yes check with a doctor (from my experience they are reluctant to do tests and they rush you, and techs doing the ultrasound will be grabbing your penis and moving it around, without full knowledge or care, but if you'd want to check out a doctor you could) but perhaps what you're feeling down there is pressure?  When a penis is so healthy and so erect, the head of the penis can almost be white at parts, because everything is so tight and fully expanded, that yes there is some pressure, everything is rock hard.  Feeling that tightness and pressure is a sign of an erection, it's normal.

How I read your post it sounds like you have a healthy erection.  That is awesome.  Keep it that way.  Make sure the girl or you don't pull it against where it naturally goes too much, lay parallel to the girl, as much as you can.  If you receive oral sex from the girl (bj) tell her not to pull it down before doing that as much as possible.

[Helper015]

I should have added to what I said of what someone might see in porn when you may see penises that point more out away from the body.  That could be from that risky ligament surgery that I mentioned (where they cut the ligaments holding the penis up, which I really do not recommend and which cause side effects and could cause ED), as well as the possibility of having a less healthy erection (softer), but I should have added that also it varies between guys, even in healthy erections, how up vs how out a penis points, but for most guys the penis points up.  This is if I read your post correctly.  If I read it correctly, then again you are describing the healthiest a penis can be!  Be careful not to pull it against its natural direction and you'll still be able to have sex.  You definitely don't want to "soften it up" as I explained what softness means.  Let me know if you have follow-up questions or anything or if there are any updates.

[Helper015]

I also found this link that you might want to check out ( https://www.menshealthhandbook.org/erection-pointing-up-down ) I cannot speak to the website or anything like that, but maybe this page I've linked to is a point of further investigation if you want to look into things more.

[Paxiled]

I'm confused by your post, Helper.  A penis doesn't go straight up.  We're all a bit different, yes, but if it went straight up, it would be resting against your belly, right?  Not very useful that way.  So largely it does stick out, maybe not perfectly straight, that would be odd, but it's also not straight up.  Now, I have no idea what the original poster's condition is.  You're right, an erect penis does point up somewhat.  If the original poster is saying it's straight up, that's odd, but I'm guessing he is just not that aware at this point in his life of it and the bottom line is, when he uses it, if it works, he's fine.  As for rock hard and not at all soft, you know, it's not always the same.  Sometimes it can alternate between somewhat hard and really hard.  It gets hardest right before orgasm.  As long as it stays hard and does the job, it's fine.  Don't want to worry anyone reading this that it has to be rock hard all the time you're having sex or the woman will be unhappy.  Fact is, how happy the woman is depends on lots of factors, including how well you know how to use what nature gave you.  A rock hard penis in a guy who doesn't now how to move won't work, just as it's very hard to have sex with a woman who doesn't know how to move in concert with you.  Sex is almost never perfect, as most people aren't that great at it and don't, you know, practice.  We just do it.  Women are quite different in what they like or if they like it at all, and they often pretend, so most of the time you will have no Earthly idea if she really is enjoying it to the maximum or not.  That is locked inside here head unless she shares and usually women don't do that.  Life is what it is.  Also confused about the notion that masturbation can cause a problem.  How?  Does that mean that to you, if a woman gives you a hand job, which is exactly what happens during masturbation, damage is done?  Hardly.  Again, don't want to worry folks out there, an experience guy can do more with a soft penis that a kid with a hard one.  Again, just the way life goes, you have to know where it goes so the woman feels it in the right places.  Wish I knew this when I was young, but alas.  Peace, all.

[Helper015]

Hi Paxiled, thank you for your analysis of my answer.  I have noticed in your other replies to me that you seem to come from a ideological/moral belief system perspective when criticizing what I write and it's okay for people to have different beliefs, and I know there is a predominate belief out there that masturbation can never do any wrong, that everyone should indulge in it, that it's natural and that actually not doing it could be unhealthy.  That is just not true.  You can injure any part of your body, but for some reason people have in their minds that the penis is indestructible, even if it's being jerked around all the time.  Masturbation physically harms the penis, especially if done in an incorrect way and it's precisely the belief system that it's impossible to harm your penis through masturbation which is pushed on people that leads to so many injuries.  I suggest people look into that as I won't expand on that right here at the moment, and perhaps in a decade or two it will be more common knowledge.

From my understanding, over time, with strain on the ligaments, the degree the penis hangs away from the body increases.  In younger years it starts out closer to the torso, in later years it hangs farther away, and it varies between people to begin with.  Mine also hangs very close to my torso.  I'm not talking about zero degrees.  If that is the case, and it is really a significant issue, there are things like ligament surgery but all surgeries have risks, and I would not recommend that, especially not as the first course of action.  In the link I shared it gets into different degrees that a penis may hang.

I also explained how an erection functions.  I have posted that before elsewhere.  It's not common knowledge (there really should be better education on this) and people have very strange understandings of that body part.  Even calling it a bone and all that, like we all may do.  And I am of the younger generation and I know many people who try to do this or that, or look up this or that, or get obsessed with some aspect of their penis that they try to do their own fixes and they end up injuring it, possibly permanently.  I'm not saying if you're not rock hard, then the penis is no good.  Again, I am talking about the physical anatomy of it, and the softer it is the more physical issue is present, such as scar tissue building up could be one cause, there are other factors too especially as you age with blood flow etc.  But yes softness is a sign that there is an issue.  If someone never gets rock hard erections for example, or did, had an injury, then never does again, something is going on, so I explained that to some extent.  This is of course an answer to someone who posted that he has rock hard erections and thinks that is a problem and wants to soften it up at the base... I think he means have it hang more outward when erect.  I think just having an understanding of the anatomy is a good place to start and I believe my answer would be of help to him and to other people reading it.

I'm sticking to the physical aspects of this.  I do know what I'm talking about and have been very involved on the cutting edge of this and so I'm bringing this help to others, and maybe someone will read this before getting an injury that he can't come undo, so will never have to get an injury in the first place and can be spared that misery.

[Paxiled]

I am not expressing a moral belief system at all.  I'm neutral, well, I guess you're right, being neutral on something that has centuries of religious repression about it is a moral position, so yeah, I guess I'll cop to that, but it's not a moral position either in favor or against it, it's a position that says it's none of my business what someone else likes to do as long as it doesn't hurt someone.  You're description of how an erection works is incomplete, and I get it, you're young and probably not a physiology expert, neither am I, but I'm 68 years old and after years of a whole lot more sex that you've had by virtue of living a long time and probably also a lot more not only masturbation by myself buy also at the hands of women I am sorry to report to you my penis looks exactly the same as it always has, as far as I can tell, since I reached puberty.  The penis is meant to be manipulated or we wouldn't have procreation, so it's a survival instinct to crave sex.  Humans don't produce litters, and for most of our history most of our children and many of our mothers didn't live very long, so we have to have an incredible urge to have sex for us to still be here.  There is no scar tissue in a penis unless it's been physically injured or had surgery on it, and in both cases, that tissue will go away as the injury heals.  Only surgery is a possible source of permanent scar tissue.  I believe that you have a belief system, though I have no idea where it comes from or what it's based on, that there's only so many sexual experiences in the life of a penis, and I would ask, is that also true of your arms?  Your legs?  Your toes?  As long as tragedy doesn't strike, they are useful as long as your body is healthy enough to function.  Now, does my penis work the same as when I was young?  No, but not because of my age, it's because I had prostate surgery and it didn't work very well and so I now have a problem I wouldn't have if that hadn't happened.  But does it look different?  No.  Is it full of scar tissue?  No, and I have the urologist's diagnostic pictures to prove it.  And the mechanics of a penis achieving erection are more complicated than just blood flow.  The nerves also are involved, which is probably my problem, a nerve in my bladder.  Nitric acid is also involved.  Virtually everything that happens in the body is dependent on a host of factors, including mental state, heart health, other organ health, quality of nutrition, amount of exercise, amount of sleep, how attracted you are to your partner, etc.  I don't believe you do have an understanding of anatomy, and I've just said why.  I believe you have a partial understanding.  Masturbation I suppose if you do it in a harmful way would be harmful, and I'm sure some do that, but it would also heal once they stopped doing that.  I have no idea what you meant by porn stars getting surgery either, because the few times I've looked at hard core porn I only look at the women, not the men.  I'm hopelessly heterosexual.  Honestly, men's genitalia are pretty funny looking, can't imagine anyone noticing.  So I have no idea if that happens or not and really am not interested.  I comment on your posts because they are factually incorrect, in my view.  Obviously, you disagree, and that's baseball, but it's really not the moral belief system you believe it is, it's trying to protect the people posting from getting even more frightened or misled by your information.  Peace.

[Helper015]

Thank you for your reply and may I say that you are talking to someone who has had surgeries down there related to erections, along with other invasive therapies.  I was the very first patient to do a particular experimental surgery, and am written up in literature.  I’ve worked with groups to bring in treatments into clinics.  I’ve dealt with this in three different countries, including the US of course.  I initiated a study by a pharmaceutical company.  I’ve been quite involved in this area in the real world and I think I’ve brought help to a lot of people.  I wouldn’t be on these forums just chatting if I didn’t come from a place of knowledge.  I only make claims over things I know about.

My area of knowledge is specifically on physical injuries to younger guys.  And that very much includes masturbation.  I think it’s great that you presented the dominate position that masturbation has no setbacks and no risks and nothing can go wrong, because that’s what we’re all taught and so a lot of young people these days jump into it and then get injured and then their lives are changed forever, so I’m grateful for the opportunity to have been able to address that view.

I mentioned masturbation in my original answer by stating that if he does masturbate, at least do not jerk the penis away from the torso, especially if he has a penis that points up to such a high degree that is so inflexible and that fits with making sure the girl doesn’t pull it so far away either, etc.  There are a lot of cases where people masturbate by jerking the penis away from and towards the body, in that see-saw motion, and may do it often, and that can actually cause physical injury, including narrowing the artery at the base, and can create internal scarring, for example.  This would be an even more damaging way to masturbate than others, but you should hear about the many different ways people masturbate.

I cannot speak to masturbation or porn viewing habits from 50+ years ago when you were a teenager.  I’m guessing it was a lot of magazines?  I’m commenting on what I know.  And you reply saying you haven’t looked at much hardcore porn, but then we cannot generalize from that and say no one has seen that.  You have never significantly injured yourself masturbating, so that means no one can?  A lot do.  And nowadays, when young guys’ sex drive is on overdrive, seconds after they get an urge they can indulge in that urge instantly by pulling out a mini computer from their pocket and having HD porn with quality sound via earbuds, and can do that every day.

There is also indeed internal scar tissue.  It shows up on ultrasounds.  And no, that is not correct that the only permanent internal scarring comes from surgery - that is false.  And my description of how an erection works is correct.  Yes hormones are involved too and I mentioned nerves, but why would I get into hormones when I’m answering a young guy who says he has rock hard erections…

I can’t speak to prostate cancer and I don’t want to comment too much about changes as you get into the older years.  My knowledge is quite specific to injuries with younger people, so when I see a 19 year old worried, not aware of the anatomy so well, thinking of ways to soften it up at the base, I know there is a risk of injury, and there is.  

[Helper015]

So to get back to the original post, again PLEASE do not mess with it (as in try to “fix” it).  Despite what Paxiled or others may say, it is possible to injure the penis, permanently.  I’m a living example as are many others, and I wish we were not incorrectly taught that nothing can go wrong.  Don’t need to be “over-paranoid”, and you want to be relaxed, but it’s valuable to be aware.  You said yourself that you carefully move it and that’s the right intuition on that, so just read my original answer to your post here.  You can check out the link I shared which talks about the angle of a penis when erect, and if it really is close to 0 degrees then there may be things you can do, but just don’t start messing around with it.  If I read your post correctly it sounds like you have the healthiest erection possible so definitely keep it that way.  Message me, even inbox, if you want to chat a bit more or anything.

[Emily_MHManager]

At this point, unless the OP comments further, we have no idea if he even masturbates, and if he does, could he have injured his penis that way.

Medically, there is no danger to masturbation, provided it is not being done to the point of skin irritation or chafing, or to the point of excluding other daily activities. As long as any toys or devices are safe, risk of injury is very, very low.

Masturbation doesn't cause scar tissue any more than sex does.

As long as males are not treating their penises like a sticky gear shift in a car, masturbation is fine, and can reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

The best advice for the OP now is to be evaluated by his doctor, preferably a urologist.  For now, let's just wait to hear from him, and wish him well.

[Helper015]

The OP is right to be cautious as he mentioned he was, when it comes to sex, masturbation etc.  Sounds like he was looking for some answers and I provided that.

It sounds like you partly agree when you mention masturbation does not cause significant damage "provided it is not" done like that, or not done "to the point of" this, or "as long as" it is not done this way... so in other words, it can cause such damage, and like I said if he has the penis angled as he seemed to describe, pulling it far away from his torso is not advised.  

[Paxiled]

Uh, never had prostate cancer.  You presume much, Helper.  Watching porn and masturbating are not confined to teenagers.  Don't believe there's an age cut-off for it.  No idea if anything you're saying is accurate, we can give you the benefit of the doubt but I emphasize the doubt as you are stating things that, as Emily says, are simply not true.  I have had ultrasounds, but they don't look at the penis with them.  For that they would use other diagnostic techniques, such as a scope.  An ultrasound would be used to look at the bladder.    Which is why urologists call it a bladder scan.  But you know, you get to have your say, but you seem to not want to let anyone else have their say, and everyone else disagrees with you.  I said above, and Emily said, that sure, if you do extreme things of course you can injure anything.  The main point continues to be, you're scaring people, and I'm trying to reassure them.  Leave it at that.  Peace, and out.

[Emily_MHManager]

My point was that we don't know what he has done, or not done, at all, and we need to wait to hear from him.

Masturbation is considered safe, medically. We are an evidence based site, and while there are exceptions to lots of things, for the vast majority of men, masturbation never causes injury.

He could have something functionally wrong, and it could indicate something potentially serious. If he's even reading the thread at this point, I hope he gets it checked.

So, enough.

Have a great day, gentlemen.

[keith1957]

I dont think you have a problem when i was in my teens and met a pritty girl i would get an erection my penis would point stright up against my torso and not a problem having sex. Im now 64 my erection stands up at about 20 degrees from my scrotum. dont worry.

[AnnieBrooke]

Talk to your urologist. If you don't have one, ask your regular doctor for a recommendation.

[AnnieBrooke]

See also, https://www.news24.com/health24/medical/erectile-dysfunction/news/how-your-age-affects-the-angle-of-your-erection-20170905