Bonus Episode: Long Lost Length: Should I Blame Long Covid For My Short Penis?

In this segment, Dr. Mistry and Donna Lee answer a question that's on the minds of many listeners: Is "Covid Penis" shrinkage really a thing? Despite anecdotal claims that Covid-19 infections shorten penile length, it is more likely that the seriousness of the illness--not the type of illness--is to blame. Dr. Mistry explains that any long-term or debilitating illness can cause ED if it 1) prevents you from achieving erections for an extended period of time or 2) diverts nutrients/energy away from non-essential bodily functions (like sex/reproduction). When your body fights very hard to stay alive, it can enter a cachetic state where only the most vital survival needs are met. As a result, ED symptoms may be an unanticipated side effect of any serious bout with illness. Because erections help maintain penile length, any time you're not "using it" for an extended period of time, you could be "losing it." To combat this, there are penile traction devices which stretch the penis to prevent shrinkage. Dr. Mistry particularly likes the Restore RX penile traction device. Other treatment options include the use of a vacuum erection device, taking daily Tadalifil or Cialis to promote erections, and/or using the supplement Arterosil to improve blood flow. These interventions, when combined with an anti-inflammatory diet and a healthy lifestyle, can go a long way toward restoring your lost length!

Voted top Men's Health Podcast, Sex Therapy Podcast, and Prostate Cancer Podcast by FeedSpot

Dr. Mistry is a board-certified urologist and has been treating patients in the Austin and Greater Williamson County area since he started his private practice in 2007.

We enjoy hearing from you! Email us at [e-mail] and we’ll answer your question in an upcoming episode.

Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website: Armormenshealth.com

Our Locations:

Round Rock Office
970 Hester’s Crossing Road
Suite 101
Round Rock, TX 78681

South Austin Office
6501 South Congress
Suite 1-103
Austin, TX 78745

Lakeline Office
12505 Hymeadow Drive
Suite 2C
Austin, TX 78750

Dripping Springs Office
170 Benney Lane
Suite 202
Dripping Springs, TX 78620

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):


Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome back to the Armor Men's Health Hour with
Dr. Mystery and Donna Lee.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Hello and welcome to the Armor Men's Health Hour.
I'm Dr. Mystery , your hosthere with my co-host, the
Incredibly Refreshed LookingDonna Lee . What did

Speaker 4 (00:24):
I do to deserve that? Well , am I looking
especially cute

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Today? It's a fresh day. .

Speaker 4 (00:29):
Is it a fresh

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Day? It's a fresh day. I'm a board certified
urologist. This is a men'shealth show. We talk about a
number of health topics , uh, alot of which center on urologic
topics from the nipples to theknees. Mm-hmm . ,
but have lots of differenttopics that we've covered in
the past that range from , um,sleep and cardiovascular issues
to peripheral vascular diseaseand foot issues and orthopedic

(00:50):
issues and all sorts of things.
We love delivering this show.
Uh, the show is sponsored andbrought to you by the urology
practice that I started in 2007N A u Urology Specialist.
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
. You didn't have quite as many gray
hairs back then.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
I did not. I was a young man back then. Mm-hmm.
, it's been 15years since we started that
practice. Decidedly puts me inmid-career. Ooh ,

Speaker 4 (01:09):
That's true. I didn't think about that. Are
you gonna have a midlifecrisis?

Speaker 3 (01:12):
I've already done that. Okay. , thank you
very much. ,

Speaker 4 (01:15):
See it in

Speaker 3 (01:15):
The parking lot?
That's correct. .
. And so we seepatients , uh, in our clinic.
We have four physicians. Wehave five mid-level providers.
We have two pelvic floorphysical therapists. Mm-hmm.
and an incredibledesire to take excellent care
of you

Speaker 4 (01:31):
And lots of amazing staff members.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Lots of amazing stuff .

Speaker 4 (01:34):
We found some good ones.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Where are our offices? How can people find
us?

Speaker 4 (01:37):
You can find us in Round Rock, north Austin. South
Austin and Dripping Springs,Texas. Did you know they wanna
rename that to Pound town ?

Speaker 3 (01:43):
Pound town ? Mm-hmm.
. There's a ,after Dr . Pound,

Speaker 4 (01:46):
Dr . Pound, there's an actual pound town in
Dripping Springs. So just alittle fun fact there for you .
Our phone number's [phone] and our website is
armor men's health.com. You cansend your questions and we'll
answer them anonymously toarmor men's [e-mail].
So

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Your questions are really what drive us , uh, on
this show. Donna, you have aquestion for us? We

Speaker 4 (02:05):
Do. It's very short and sweet and I've heard this
and I didn't think it was athing. And then my husband also
wants to know is C O V I Dpenis, but they use a different
word , um, a real thing. So ,

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Uh , recently there have been , uh, several
scientific reports as well asanecdotal kind of reports in
the media. Mm-hmm .
of a concern of ,uh, penile shrinkage after
having covid. My

Speaker 4 (02:23):
Husband's blaming Covid.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
I will tell you, he , he didn't, he hasn't had
covid since he was 16. .
So , uh, sorry, Michael. The ,the question is whether or not
being diagnosed with orsuffering from COVID can lead
to both erectile dysfunction aswell as a shortening of the
penis and the shrinkage. And Iwould say that the majority of
patients that have reportedthis were ill from covid, like
, like super hospitalized. Theygot , um, oh , they got

(02:46):
intubated and they got reallyill. And I will say that any
illness that makes you reallyill will contribute to ED and
to That makes sense. Erectiledysfunction and mm-hmm . If you
really had to think about howthe body's working, if we had
resources to keep things going.
Mm-hmm. and ourerections, although we have a
lot of fun with 'em , arereally intended for
reproduction. Mm-hmm.
. And ifwe're really, really sick, our

(03:06):
body anthropologically probablydoesn't put us in the, this guy
needs to reproduce category. Oh,

Speaker 4 (03:11):
That makes

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Sense. And so resources are gonna be taken
away. I think he would be verynatural to think of somebody
who got intubated for two weeksand was in the I C U and very
sick from any illness, probablyhas a higher risk of both
developing erectiledysfunction. And when you have
erectile dysfunction, verycommonly the penis shrinks
because if you don't use it,you lose it.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
Stop saying that.
Michael keeps hearing that and it's just terrible
for my home penis . Well ,

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Does he doesn't need a partner. That's true.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
He wants an AU pair . Even though all of our
children are in college,

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Don't fall for it.
, there's a lot oferections that we get because
we want them. And then there'sa lot of erections that we get
just kind of spontaneouslythroughout the night, early in
the morning, sometimes whenwith stronger urge to urinate.
Right . All of those littlebitty kind of unintended
erections also help maintainthe length of the penis. Oh .
So when we have, for example,patients that are undergoing

(03:59):
prostate surgery, we have themstart using a vacuum erection
device so that, you know,artificially every day they get
a seven minute erection, eventhough it's done by using a
vacuum device. And we have seenanecdotally, and the studies
have also kind of supported thefact that it maintains length
of the penis. So getting reallyill definitely is a contributor
to erectile dysfunction.
Erectile dysfunction isdefinitely a contributor to a

(04:22):
perception of penileshortening. When you get very
sick, you're gonna lose a lotof nutrients. Your body's gonna
become, you know, it goes intoa state in which it kind of
eats itself in a way. It'scalled the CTIC state. It's
when it's your body's fightingso hard to stay alive that a
lot of the , uh, internalresources that we use to heal
ourselves are being used foryour heart and lungs and are

(04:42):
gonna be taken away frommaintaining your erections and
reproduction. Mm-hmm.
. So, so you can

Speaker 4 (04:47):
Get it back, you

Speaker 3 (04:48):
Can get's you can get erections

Speaker 4 (04:50):
Back. I was , I was sent a disturbing picture about
, um, covid shrinks man'spenis. It was like a news
story. It says, doctors tellpatient that severe vascular
damage is irreversible.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
That's the case. If, if , if you have, if you get
really sick mm-hmm .
,

Speaker 4 (05:05):
Then

Speaker 3 (05:06):
There's bound to be long-term consequences. Yep .
Um, I guess they call it longcovid. We're gonna call it
short covid . Uh , butit , it ,

Speaker 4 (05:15):
Short penis covid.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
If you get sick, then the likelihood of ending
up with that is higher. So whatdo we do in the medical? So
number one, you have to go to adoctor that takes it seriously.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
It knows what

Speaker 3 (05:27):
They're doing. So , so the moment that you have a
concern and you're dismissedout of hand mm-hmm.
, it's usuallybecause that doctor hasn't
heard of it or hasn't hadexperience with it, but many
times 'cause the doctor has noidea how to fix it

Speaker 4 (05:38):
And it's probably not a urologist.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
Maybe not. It's

Speaker 4 (05:41):
Probably their maybe primary care. Maybe.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
Maybe . Okay . Or even a urologist that doesn't
have like a particular interestin helping you get a longer

Speaker 4 (05:48):
Dose. That would be the worst urologist ever.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
. So, so regular use of a vacuum
erection device. Mm-hmm.
, we like peopleto use a daily tadalafil or
daily Cialis so that they canget more blood flow , uh, into
the penis. Mm-hmm.
, this is a greatexample of where something like
shockwave, which , uh, is, is,is a therapy in which we use
ultrasound onto the penis tohelp kind of rejuvenate the

(06:12):
penis by helping your bodybring or encouraging your body
to bring in growth factors tokind of repair damaged tissue.
Mm-hmm. , theremay be a role for P R P
injections in this particularinstance.

Speaker 4 (06:22):
Platelet rich plasma

Speaker 3 (06:24):
P R P or the P shot mm-hmm. as it's
widely known we're doing. Uh,and so these are the kinds of
other alternatives. We use lotsof supplements. Uh , one of the
, our favorite supplements iscalled artero sil . Uh, we use
that , um, because it reallyhelps with , um, fixing the
inner lining of blood vessels.
Mm-hmm. , wereally wanna work on your
nutrition to make sure thatyou're not taking in a lot of

(06:45):
anti-inflammatory, you know, ora lot of inflamm
pro-inflammatory foods. Mm-hmm.
. Uh , and sothat's some, some areas in
which we're gonna start helpingyou. Not just pills, but also ,
um, there's a , uh, somethingcalled a penile traction device
, uh, that have been inventedby a number of engineers over
the years, predominantly usedin Peyronie's disease. Mm-hmm.

(07:06):
, but it alsowill help kind of get back some
length , uh, will make surethat you don't have a , uh, too
big of a fat pad that may needto be lipo sucked or , um, uh,
otherwise kind of reduced thatpre pubic fat pad, which can
cause a buried penis. Maybe geta couple inches there. And so ,
um, don't just look down and belike, well, I guess that's how

(07:27):
it is. There are certainlythings that , uh, can be done
.

Speaker 4 (07:30):
That's what I keep telling my husband. , I
guess .

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Sorry . I guess that's just how it is . It's

Speaker 4 (07:35):
What it is . I

Speaker 3 (07:35):
Guess what it's what?

Speaker 4 (07:36):
It's .

Speaker 3 (07:38):
Oh man. If you're a divorce attorney, ,

Speaker 4 (07:43):
When he send said female attraction, tell me more
about that. 'cause I visualizethe guy, you know, the guy who
breaks his leg in the hospitaland his legs up in the traction
thing. He's got a , I justpictured a little tiny traction
thing holding his

Speaker 3 (07:53):
Penis. These, these devices are amazing. One of the
newest ones that we've startedusing is called Restore rx . R
E S T O R E R X . Mm-hmm.
. And , and forthose of you listening, I I'm
not getting like paid. There'sno advertisement , uh, for the
show. Uh, really just ,although that

Speaker 4 (08:09):
Would be nice.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
That would be nice.
Uh , uh, but really these arejust things that we use that
help you in terms of what , uh,you know, we , we promote
products that we use. So , um,this Restore rx , uh, which I
think you can get without aprescription, but I'm not
completely sure. There's alsoAndro penis , A N D R O penis
mm-hmm . , Andropenis . It's also another

(08:29):
traction device. These thingslook like something out of a
medieval times .

Speaker 4 (08:33):
It does. I'm looking at it online

Speaker 3 (08:35):
'cause but the , the tough part is how do you
stretch the penis? Like that'swhat it is . You know ,

Speaker 4 (08:39):
Can't you just pull it? Why do you have to buy
these things?

Speaker 3 (08:41):
I don't care.
, you

Speaker 4 (08:42):
Know , get that hot babysitter involved.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Um, we're probably get in trouble for suggesting
that au pairs are anythingabout babysitters.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
They , they don't live here, they're overseas
.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
So , uh, a penile traction device is gonna
require constant traction ofthe flacid penis. And so that's
what these devices do. They ,uh, help with penile curvature.
If you have Peyronie's diseaseand they help with , um, uh,
lengthening of the penis , uh,if that's an issue that you're
having. So , uh, certainly ,uh, if you're suffering from a
decrease in length of penis,whether it be through age or

(09:17):
underlying vascular disease orbecause of Covid or because
you've had your prostateremoved or because any other
number of reasons are you just

Speaker 4 (09:25):
Cold all the time.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
, it's very, very cold.

Speaker 4 (09:28):
This one, this website's saying two to four
inches. What can a personreally expect if they're
usually using the rightequipment correctly? Uh ,
consistently

Speaker 3 (09:36):
One , one and a half centimeters. I think that like

Speaker 4 (09:38):
One and a half centimeters.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
I think three , three quarters of an inch is
something that you canreasonably expect. I think
getting a four inch longerpenis using the the device is
probably , uh, something thatwould probably be selling off
the shelves if it was true.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
Correct. And on this website, the very top phone
number says sales. So ,that's probably a problem.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
, but , uh, just because , uh, the promises
may seem , um, you know, overthe moon mm-hmm .
doesn't mean that there isn't areal benefit for it. So , uh,
if you're out there sufferingfrom this , uh, kind of
condition, we want us to , uh,take care of you. I , Donna ,
how do people get ahold of us?
You

Speaker 4 (10:12):
Can call us about yours upcoming Penis Traction
Equipment at 5 1 2 2 3 8 0 7 62 . And remember our website
please. It's arm men'shealth.com. Send your questions
to Arm Men's [e-mail].
They're amazing, they're superinsightful and they are helping
other people, so that'simportant. Listen to our
podcast wherever you catch yourpodcast. Thank you, Dr. Mystery
.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
The Armor Men's Health Hour will be right back.
If you have questions for Dr.
Mystery , email him at Armormen's [e-mail].