"………Moncada-Iribarren and colleagues [11] reported on the use of a traction device to treat penile shortening that had occurred after PD surgery. A total of 40 men participated in this study, with 12 undergoing a grafting procedure while the remaining 28 underwent plication only. One-half of the patients were treated with penile traction and the other half served as the control group.
"hile the use of traction therapy in PD may be a relatively new concept, it has a long history of use in other areas of medicine. In 1969, Ilizarov and Soibeman [8] described ‘distraction osteogenesis’ as a technique to stimulate bone remodeling. Subsequently, the use of traction and tissue expansion therapy has spread to other areas, including orthodontics and plastic/reconstructive surgery [9]. From these initial experiences, the concept of using traction therapy to lengthen the penis was felt to be a logical consideration.
…..
The penile extender was first instituted once the surgical incision had healed (approximately 2-3 weeks) for 8-12 hours daily for a total treatment period of at least 4 months. For both groups, penile shortening after surgery ranged from 0.5-4.0 cm. Those patients in the treatment group experienced a length increase ranging from 1-3 cm and this increase was proportional to the number of hours per month that the patient was wearing the extender.
………
Based on these initial positive studies, further investigation into the use of penile traction as a non-surgical alternative in the treatment of PD deformity was encouraged.
In 2008, Levine and colleagues [12] reported the results of a study of 11 men with PD who underwent treatment with a penile traction device. All participants were evaluated with pre-treatment measurement of stretched penile length from pubis to corona, and a dynamic color duplex ultrasound was performed with measurement of curvature and girth at maximal erection.
Of the 11 men who entered the study, one subject dropped out due to inability to comply with the treatment protocol. Patients were instructed to wear the device for a minimum of 2 hours per day but were encouraged to increase the duration of use to a maximum of 8 hours per day. Treatment was continued for a total of 6 months. Every 2 weeks, the extender rods were lengthened by 0.5 cm, and repeat length measurements were recorded every month during an office visit.
Of the 10 men who completed the study, all reported subjective improvements in length and curvature of 0.5-2.5 cm and 10-40°, respectively. Objectively, mean penile stretched length increased from 0.5-2.0 cm and curvature had been reduced by 10-45° (mean of 22°). There were no patient-described changes regarding penile sensation, worsening erectile function, or skin injury. Overall, patients reported high satisfaction rates and improvements in International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) scores.
This year, Gontero and colleagues [13] published the results of a study of 19 men who underwent treatment with a penile traction device for PD-associated penile curvature. Of the men participating, all had pre-treatment curvature of less than 50°, disease lasting a minimum of 12 months, and no penile pain when flaccid.
….
Patients were required to wear the device for a minimum of 5 hours daily, up to a maximum of 9 hours. Patients were evaluated at months 1, 3, and 6. After finishing treatment at month 6, they were evaluated again at 12 months (washout period of 6 months). A total of four patients were dropped from the final analysis due to lack of compliance with the protocol or were lost to follow-up. ……. there was a significant improvement in mean flaccid and stretched penile length measurements of 1.3 and 0.83 cm, respectively.
No further changes in curvature or length were noted after the washout period. There was only a marginal improvement in IIEF score, which was also not statistically significant.
There are several potential explanations for the large discrepancies in the findings between the Levine and Gontero studies. The selection criteria for each study were quite different.
…."
Penile traction therapy in Peyronie’s disease - PMC
Are these studies conclusive? An honest answer would be : no. Is there really any study in the realm of medicine that could be called conclusive? Hard to find an example - but I’m not a researchere in this field, other members can answer this question.
But some studies on penis extenders are legit enough IMHO, more than many studies in other areas regularly published in scientific journals. Some of the authors are not ‘fake Docs’ but respected researchers who have published on different topics.
Look also at the PE Science thread, there are some interesting studies published there.
Hope this helps a little bit.