Wellness Blog

Optilume Drug-Coated Balloon for Urethral Strictures

We’re excited to add a new treatment to our range of highly effective, minimally-invasive specialty procedures – Optilume.

The Optilume drug-coated balloon is designed to provide quick and lasting relief for men suffering from urethral strictures.

Why opt for Optilume?

If you’ve tried every other treatment for urethral strictures out there, and they still failed you, we don’t blame if you’re just a little skeptical about this new option. However, we’re continuously working to bring you the best options to improve and maintain your urologic health, and we urge you to get a consultation to see if Optilume can help you.

Optilume is an outpatient procedure that only takes 15 minutes to complete at our offices. It provides near immediate and lasting relief for stricture symptoms, and has been proven to be successful in 75% of cases a year later1.

Learn more about Optilume >>

  1. One-Year Safety and Efficacy Outcomes on a Novel Drug Coated Balloon (DCB) for Urethral Stricture Disease – The ROBUST I Study G. H. Jordan, R. Virasoro, J. DeLong, R. Estrella, M. Pichardo, R. R. Lay, G. Espino, G. Webster, S. Elliot.

ICI Myth vs Fact

Can ICI turn you into a superhero in the bedroom? Yes and No. ICI is a fantastic treatment option for many men suffering from erectile dysfunction. It does what it is supposed to, but as effective as it is, it’s not a miracle cure.

We recently came across several websites claiming that ICI does all of this:

  • Improves erectile dysfunction (ED)
  • Increases firmness of erection
  • Improves sexual capabilities
  • Increases blood flow and circulation within the penis
  • Increases sexual stamina
  • Increases sensation and pleasure
  • Enhances appearance
  • Increases size
  • Increases girth up to 1 inch and
  • Increases length ¼ – 1 inch
  • Improves or resolves prostate discomfort
  • Improves or resolves urinary incontinence
  • No allergic reactions

Ethics aside, many of these claims are simply false. ICI self-injections will definitely help you deal with erectile dysfunction, will increase the firmness of your erection, and improve your overall sexual capability. The injections are not guaranteed to increase the size of your penis beyond what your body can do naturally with a healthy erection. And ICI will certainly do nothing for your prostate discomfort and urinary incontinence.

On the whole though, ICI can greatly improve your quality of life and help restore your sexual function. Also, worth knowing, the ICI is marketed under various names, such as the Priapus Shot and P-shot.

Our Erectile Dysfunction solutions:

ICI (Intra-Cavernosal Injections)

Vaginal Rejuvenation Helps Women “Get Their Lives Back”

Dr. Dean Elterman, a urologist at University Health Network, performs “vaginal rejuvenation” for medical and cosmetic reasons.

Great coverage of the female genital procedures from the Toronto Star. Many of the questions we get from patients about Intimalase, OHIP coverage, and the cost are answered here. Get in touch with us with any further questions or to book a consultation.
 

Female genital procedures on the rise, but they’re not always cosmetic

“Labiaplasty is not normally covered by OHIP, though exceptions are considered if the repair is required because of an injury, says Ministry of Health spokesperson David Jensen.

More broadly, women coming in for female genital procedures are sometimes seeking treatment for urinary incontinence or laxity of the vaginal canal after childbirth, which could be hindering their sex life or making the region uncomfortable, Brown says.

In Jones’ case, she opted for the IncontiLase procedure, and says the roughly $2,500 cost was money well spent since the experience was largely pain-free. “I think that alone makes it so much better than having a surgical procedure where you have stitches and you’re recovering for six weeks,” Jones says.

The procedure involves two to three 20-minute laser sessions, in which a physician uses a speculum-type device to guide a laser to heat the tissue lining the vagina — and the collagen layer below — to tighten the region. It might be slightly uncomfortable, but not painful enough to require numbing gel, says Dr. Dean Elterman, the Toronto urologic surgeon who performed the procedure on Jones. (Elterman has financial ties to IncontiLase product provider Clarion Medical Technologies.)

”The pelvic floor — meaning the urethra, the vagina, the bladder — are all supported by a series of layers of collagen, muscles, and connective tissue,” says Elterman. “With childbirth, with age, with decreasing estrogen levels around menopause, you get laxity in the tissues.”

That can lead to bladder leakage, because there is no longer the same amount of support in the vaginal tissue below. Elterman likens it to a leaking garden hose: If you stand on the hose while it’s on a soft, muddy surface, you’ll never be able to fully compress it to stop the leak. “Whereas, if you’re standing on the hose and it’s on cement or concrete, you can actually squish the tube and it won’t leak.”