Penile curvature can be corrected with treatments ranging from injections and traction devices to surgery, depending on what’s causing the curve and how severe it is. The right approach depends on whether you were born with the curve or developed it later, and whether the condition is still changing or has stabilized. A slight curve is normal and rarely needs treatment, but when curvature interferes with sex or causes pain, effective options exist.
Why the Penis Curves
There are two distinct reasons a penis curves, and they call for different treatment paths.
Congenital curvature is something you’re born with (or that becomes apparent during puberty). It affects less than 1% of men. There’s no scar tissue or plaque involved, the curve doesn’t change over time, and erections aren’t painful. If you’ve had a curve for as long as you can remember and it hasn’t gotten worse, this is likely your situation.
Peyronie’s disease is an acquired condition, meaning it develops later in life, most commonly in men in their 50s and 60s. It happens when scar tissue forms in the tough outer sheath of the erectile chambers. That sheath is normally made of flexible elastin and collagen fibers, but the scar tissue (called plaque) is dense, rigid collagen that can harden to the thickness of bone in severe cases. Because the scarred side can’t stretch during an erection, the penis bends toward it. The most common plaque location is on the top of the mid-shaft, which produces a dorsal (upward) or dorso-lateral curve.
The leading theory is that Peyronie’s is triggered by trauma to the penis. Sometimes that’s a single acute injury like buckling during intercourse, but more often it’s repeated low-grade trauma, such as sex with incomplete erections, in men who are genetically susceptible to abnormal scarring.
Active Phase vs. Stable Phase
If you have Peyronie’s disease, understanding which phase you’re in matters because most corrective treatments only work once the disease has stabilized.
The active phase is when things are still changing. Pain during erections is the hallmark symptom, and the curve may be getting worse over time. New plaque may still be forming, and the shape of the penis can shift from week to week. The pain is caused by active inflammation in the plaque and typically resolves on its own within about 12 months. During this phase, doctors generally recommend waiting rather than intervening surgically, because operating on a moving target leads to worse outcomes.
The stable phase begins when symptoms have been unchanged for at least three months. Pain has usually faded, the curve has stopped progressing, and any plaque can be felt or seen on ultrasound. This is when corrective treatments are on the table. It’s worth knowing that spontaneous improvement is rare. In a review of 307 men with Peyronie’s, only 3.2% saw their curvature resolve without treatment. In two-thirds of cases, the curve stayed exactly the same, and in about 30% it got worse.
Injection Therapy
For men with stable Peyronie’s disease and a curve of at least 30 degrees, an enzyme-based injection (brand name Xiaflex) is the only FDA-approved non-surgical medication. The enzyme breaks down the excess collagen in the plaque, allowing the scarred tissue to stretch more normally. It’s delivered directly into the plaque in a series of treatment cycles at a urologist’s office.
Injection therapy works best for moderate curvature. It won’t eliminate a severe bend entirely, but it can reduce the angle enough to restore comfortable sexual function. It’s not appropriate during the active phase when the plaque is still forming, and it’s not used for congenital curvature since there’s no scar tissue to break down.
Traction Devices
Penile traction therapy uses a wearable device that applies a gentle, sustained stretch to the penis over weeks or months. The goal is to remodel tissue on the shorter side of the curve. One key challenge has been the time commitment: traditional traction devices required 2 to 9 hours of daily wear to show results, which most men simply wouldn’t do.
Newer devices have shown improvements in both curvature and penile length with just 30 minutes of daily use. In a controlled trial published in the Journal of Urology, men used a traction device for 30 minutes a day over a five-month treatment period, with an optional three-month extension. Traction is sometimes used alongside injections or as preparation before surgery. It’s a slow process with modest results, but it’s non-invasive and carries minimal risk.
Plication Surgery
Plication is the most common surgical fix for penile curvature, used for both Peyronie’s disease and congenital curvature. The surgeon places permanent sutures on the longer side of the penis (opposite the curve), essentially cinching the tissue to straighten it. No scar tissue is removed, and the erectile tissue itself isn’t cut into.
The results are consistently good. In a large study in the Journal of Urology, 96% of patients reported curvature improvement after plication, 93% reported erections firm enough for intercourse, and 95% said their overall condition improved. The trade-off is some shortening. While 84% of men had no measurable decrease in stretched length, 78% perceived their penis as shorter after surgery. That gap between measured and perceived shortening is common, but it’s something to be prepared for mentally.
Plication works best for curves under about 60 degrees. It’s a relatively straightforward outpatient procedure with a lower risk profile than more complex surgeries.
Grafting Surgery for Severe Curves
When the curve exceeds 60 degrees, or when the penis has already shortened significantly and plication would make it worse, surgeons turn to grafting. Instead of shortening the long side, this approach lengthens the short side. The surgeon removes part of the plaque and patches the gap with graft tissue.
Grafting is also used when the penis has an hourglass deformity (a narrowing or indentation that creates a hinge point during erection). The procedure preserves or restores length, which is its main advantage. The downside is a meaningful risk of erectile dysfunction afterward. Total plaque removal carries an unacceptably high rate of erectile problems (up to 67% in some reports), so surgeons now perform partial plaque removal at the point of maximum curvature. This creates a smaller defect to graft and significantly lowers the risk. Even so, the surgery involves careful dissection around the nerve and blood supply of the penis, and any damage there can affect erections permanently.
Penile Implants for Curvature With ED
When significant curvature coexists with erectile dysfunction that doesn’t respond to medication, an inflatable penile prosthesis can solve both problems at once. The implant provides rigidity for sex while the surgeon straightens the curve during the same operation, sometimes combining the implant with plication or partial plaque removal.
This is a last-line option reserved for men who can’t achieve usable erections on their own and have a curve that prevents intercourse. The prosthesis is entirely internal, with a pump placed in the scrotum that you squeeze to inflate the device. Recovery takes several weeks, and the natural ability to get an erection without the device is permanently altered.
What Doesn’t Work
A number of oral supplements and vitamins (particularly vitamin E) have been promoted as Peyronie’s treatments for decades. None have shown consistent benefit in controlled studies. Shockwave therapy, while popular for other conditions, also lacks strong evidence for reducing established penile curvature. Exercises or manual stretching techniques marketed online have no clinical backing for correcting a curve caused by scar tissue or structural asymmetry.
If your curve is mild (under about 15 to 20 degrees), doesn’t cause pain, and doesn’t interfere with sex, it likely doesn’t need any treatment at all. A slight curve in any direction is a normal anatomical variation. Treatment is worth pursuing when the curve makes penetration difficult, causes pain, or creates significant distress.