What happens at the molecular level following penile trauma?
Following any penile trauma, injured cells release a veritable stew of chemical messengers that have a number of important effects, including the activation of fibroblasts, cells that produce connective tissue. Normally these cells produce organized collagen sheets that restore the normal architecture of the penis. Some fibroblasts transform into cells called myofibroblasts, cells that not only produce collagen but also contract to help bring wound edges together. Myofibroblasts are designed to do their job and then die off. However, in some cases, fibroblasts produce abnormal, disorganized collagen and myofibroblasts do not die, leading to persistent wound contraction and inflammation. These two processes lead to overgrowth of dense scar tissue, which in some cases becomes the plaque of Peyronie’s disease. Are men with Peyronie’s disease prone to any other conditions? About 30 percent of men with Peyronie’s disease develop fibrosis in other areas of the body. The most common sites are
