MESSM Penile Implant Summer School: Avoiding infections

Sometimes holidays and professional life mix in the best possible way.

Yesterday, while spending a few days in #Istanbul, I exchanged this view over the Sea of Marmara from the Asian side of the city, in Kadıköy, for my laptop for 15 minutes (the power of 5G) — to join the MESSM Penile Implant Summer School and speak about one of the complications every penile implant surgeon works hard to avoid: #infection.

And I was very happy to do so.

Penile implant surgery is a highly rewarding field, but becoming a good implanter is about much more than learning how to place a device.

It means learning how to select and counsel the patient, prevent complications, recognise them early and manage them when they occur.

Three messages I tried to leave with the participants:

1️⃣ Manage expectations.
“Underpromise and overdeliver.” Patients need realistic counselling — including an open discussion about infection and other potential complications.

2️⃣ Prevention is a chain — and it is only as strong as its weakest link.
Patient optimisation, the operating-room environment, antibiotics, surgical technique, minimising implant contact with the skin, the device itself, wound care… there is no single magic step.

Excellence comes from getting all the small steps right.

3️⃣ Salvage is possible. – Complications happen, including to experienced surgeons. Expertise is not pretending they never occur; it is doing everything possible to prevent them, recognising them quickly, and knowing how to manage or salvage the implant appropriately.

And perhaps there is a fourth lesson? penile implant surgery is a #teamsport. When a difficult case exceeds your experience, call a colleague. There is strength, not weakness, in asking for help.

Supporting and teaching the next generation of penile implant surgeons is therefore incredibly important. Surgical schools like this allow younger colleagues to learn not only the “perfect” operation, but also the decision-making that comes before surgery and the management of the difficult situations that inevitably come afterwards.

If we want penile prosthetic surgery to continue becoming safer and better, sharing experience is part of our responsibility.

A very worthwhile 15-minute interruption to a holiday — and then back to the Istanbul sunshine. 🇹🇷🌊

Thank you to MESSM and the Surgical School for the invitation and for investing in education in prosthetic urology. Thank you Prof.Dr.Osama Shaeer and other faculty members.