From T2 diabetes ED to Rigicon Infla10AX — 3 years post-op + complications (47, France)

[frenchimplantee]

Hi everyone,

My name is Yassine, I'm 47, writing from France. I've been reading this forum for a long time — it helped me more than I can say when I was in the dark — so it's finally my turn to share. I'll keep this detailed because the kind of stories I was looking for when I was struggling were never detailed enough. I'm three years post-implant now and I'll tell you the whole thing, including the complications — and the fact that, three years later, I'm still as happy with the decision as the day I made it.

HOW IT STARTED — SUMMER 2022

Everything collapsed at once. My wife had just left me. I was running out of money. I'd lost my job. And one morning, my erections were gone. Not weakened — gone. I'd been type 2 diabetic for about 4 years, and my annual urology check-ups had always been fine. One year earlier everything was normal. Now my penis felt empty. No more spontaneous movement, no reactions — it felt dead. That's the only way I can describe it.

My therapist at the time told me it was psychological. It wasn't. I knew my own body, and what I was feeling was something physical.

UROLOGIST #1 — "THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO"

She did a penile Doppler and showed me that blood flow was compromised in my left corpus cavernosum. The blood was going in, but not staying. I got dressed and asked the only question that mattered: "Doctor, what can we do?"

Her answer: "Nothing, sir. There's nothing we can do."

I walked out into the street and the world fell apart. I was 44, alone, broke, jobless, and now — according to her — without a future sex life. When she saw my reaction, she backpedalled and mentioned injections, but by then I had no confidence left in her. I decided to find a second opinion.

UROLOGIST #2 — THE "MEDICATION COCKTAIL"

He confirmed: the damage was diabetes-related. My HbA1c was actually good by then (6.1–6.2) because I'd started taking care of myself again, but the damage was already done.

He put me on what he called a cocktail and had me try:

- Spedra (avanafil) — worked well. Expensive though: about €100 for 12 pills, no generic.
- Sildenafil generic — worked well, much cheaper.
- Vizarsin — a faster sildenafil. He taught me to rub the pill against my gum for faster absorption. Worked.
- Cialis 5 mg daily and Cialis 20 mg on demand — both effective.
- Then Vitaros — an intraurethral gel. Cold, uncomfortable, and didn't give me enough.

The real problem wasn't the hardness — the pills did increase rigidity. The problem was that the blood wouldn't stay. I'd get an erection, lose it, get it back, lose it again. Impossible to actually have sex.

One night out of frustration I took three different pills at once. I do not recommend this — I ended up with massive headaches and could feel blood rushing through every limb. Lesson learned.

I asked the doctor for something more aggressive. He preferred to go slow. That's when I realized I needed a third opinion.

UROLOGIST #3 — DR. SÉBASTIEN BELEY (PARIS 17) — A REAL PROTOCOL

Completely different experience from minute one. He listened — really listened — before saying anything. Then he told me "there's still a lot we can do" and set up a real protocol, from least to most invasive. That was the moment everything changed for me. I went from being handed verdicts by doctors who looked at me from above, to working with a doctor who built a plan with me. From the first appointment, it stopped feeling like "a specialist treating a patient" and started feeling like the two of us going after the same problem together.

Step 1 — Low-intensity shockwave therapy (Renova machine)
Weekly 20-minute sessions, 5–6 minutes per side (left, right, perineum). 6 weeks of sessions, then 4 weeks waiting. Painless. No improvement for me.

Step 2 — Shockwave + PRP (6 more weeks)
Same shockwave protocol, but adding PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injections into the shaft. They numb the penis first, so the injections themselves are painless. 6 weeks of weekly sessions, then 4 weeks of observation. Still no improvement.

Step 3 — Edex (alprostadil injections)
Started at dose 10 in the office. Partial response — erection came but wasn't strong enough for sex, ~45 min duration.
Moved up to dose 20. This time, too strong. Painful. Glans swollen, had to wait in the office for it to come down before I could leave.

I used dose 20 at home for real intercourse, with the EasyPen auto-injector (Dr. Beley recommended it — the idea of sticking a needle in myself manually was psychologically impossible). It worked mechanically, but the erection was so rigid it killed sensation. I had no pleasure during sex. What's the point of injecting yourself to have sex you don't feel?

That's when the implant conversation started. And again, it wasn't presented as a verdict. Dr. Beley laid out the options, the trade-offs, the irreversibility, and let me sit with it. He made sure I understood I wasn't being pushed.

DECISION FOR THE 3-PIECE INFLATABLE IMPLANT

I'd been quietly preparing myself for months. I knew once it was done there was no going back. Dr. Beley and his team showed me the different models and walked me through everything. We chose a 3-piece hydraulic implant — the Rigicon Infla10AX (two cylinders in the shaft, pump in the scrotum, reservoir next to the bladder — single incision under the penis at the scrotum).

Pre-op prep: 2 months of daily vacuum therapy (medical-grade pump + cock ring), 30–45 min per session, to keep the cavernous bodies as elastic as possible before surgery.

SURGERY AND EARLY RECOVERY

Arrived the evening before, first one in the OR at 7 AM, overnight stay, home the next day. Painkillers made me groggy but the pain itself was manageable. Edema was impressive looking but not painful — resolved in about 10 days.

Because I'm diabetic, Dr. Beley kept the stitches in an extra week to be safe. No issues.

ACTIVATION DAY (6 WEEKS POST-OP)

The moment I saw my penis rise from the pump — I can't describe it. I'd been waiting so long. Pure joy. Many of you here will understand exactly what I mean.

THEN THE COMPLICATIONS STARTED

This is the part I want people to know about, because nobody really prepares you for it.

Two days after activation I inflated the implant at home. Everything fine for 2.5 hours. Then I tried to deflate — nothing. The pump wouldn't release. I tried every position, nothing worked. Sleepless night in serious pain (my corpora weren't elastic enough yet for that much time inflated).

Next morning — ER with Dr. Beley. He couldn't deflate it manually either — too painful. Conclusion: back to the OR the following morning under general anesthesia to deflate it. He told me it was a rare air-bubble issue, never happened to him.

Two weeks later, same story. Inflated Sunday night, couldn't deflate. Another sleepless night, even more pain. Back to the OR — trip number 3 in a few months. Problem: end of July. The clinic closes the entire month of August. Dr. Beley personally fought to get me an emergency slot. He picked up the phone and called the manufacturer rep on the spot — I could hear the rep getting an earful through the door, because they'd never seen this fail with this model.

He deflated it under anesthesia but told me not to touch it until September — we'd open back up and investigate. So I lived the whole month of August with the implant partially deflated, couldn't swim, couldn't fully live normally.

OR TRIP #4 — SEPTEMBER — THE ACTUAL PROBLEM

Fourth time in the OR in four months. Dr. Beley opened me back up and finally found it: my body had built scar tissue around the pump. The tissue had encapsulated the deflation button. The pump itself was fine — my body had overreacted and wrapped it up.

He cleaned it all out, scraped the scar tissue, and tested the implant 15 full cycles (normally he does 5). Worked perfectly. Two weeks later in the office — still perfect.

REHABILITATION — THE SECOND CHANCE

I did it every single day. Inflate, wait, deflate. Goal: regain elasticity in the cavernous bodies. My trick: I inflated it before bed and slept with it inflated all night. Less disruptive, and if I woke up I'd give one more pump to gain a millimeter. It's uncomfortable at the start — gets easier every week as elasticity returns.

Throughout the rehab, Dr. Beley followed up monthly. Every appointment he checked, adjusted, encouraged. I never once felt left alone with this.

Upside of the disaster: those weeks with the implant stuck inflated actually gave my corpora a head start on stretching.

A WORD ON DR. BELEY

I want to dedicate a section to him because anyone here looking for a surgeon should know what a difference the right one makes. Through three failed protocols before the implant, four trips to the OR, and a complication his team had never seen before, he never once lost patience and never gave up on me. He took every emergency call. He fought for an OR slot at the worst possible time of year. He stayed on the case until he found the actual cause — and then he over-tested the fix to be sure.

What I want to say most clearly is this: from start to finish, it never felt like a doctor treating a patient from above. It felt like the two of us working on the same problem as a team. He listened to every concern, explained every step, adjusted when something wasn't working, and treated me like a partner in the decisions instead of someone things were happening to. That's not a small thing — it's the reason I got through the bad months without losing my mind.

A practical note for non-French speakers reading this: Dr. Beley and his entire team speak fluent English. He regularly operates on international patients flying in from across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and beyond — so the international side of things (consultation, surgery, follow-up, paperwork) is well handled. If you're considering coming to France for this, the language won't be a barrier.

Three years later, when I read other implant stories online, I realize how rare that kind of relationship is. If you're in France or considering travelling for the surgery, his name is Dr. Sébastien Beley, in Paris 17.

WHERE I AM NOW — 3 YEARS POST-OP

Three years out. Despite everything — the 4 OR trips, the scar tissue, the lost month — I do not regret it. Not for a second. And I want to be clear: this isn't a "honeymoon period" review. I'm writing this three years after surgery, and I'm still as happy with the decision as I was the day I made it. If anything, more so — because the rehab is long behind me and the implant just feels like part of my body now.

- My penis is back to the size and shape I had before my ED problems started. Dr. Beley had positioned the implant slightly forward, given that my corpora were still in decent shape, and predicted I'd gain in girth rather than length. He was right — I'm actually wider than I was before, and that has held up over the three years.
- Sex life: free. Spontaneous. One button press, and I'm ready. No more pills, no more injections, no more planning, no more "will it work tonight."
- Psychologically: huge confidence boost. I can approach my sex life the way I did when I was 20.
- Long-term: I'm covered for 15–20 years.

WHY I'M POSTING THIS

France is still a taboo country for this subject. I had to fight to get real information during the years I was suffering. That's why I started a French-language YouTube channel where I document all of this openly — my journey, interviews with specialists (including Dr. Beley himself), the recovery.

The video where I go through this full story in detail (in French) is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJC65MkuAGs

Quick note on it: I filmed that video at the 1-year-post-op mark, so it's about 2 years old now. Three years out, my answer is exactly the same as in the video — best decision I've made for myself, and I'd do it again the same day, with the same surgeon.

If you're French-speaking, it might help. If you're anglophone, the chapters and images still tell the story.

Happy to answer any question — pre-op decision, the complications, sex life after, rehab, the surgeon, anything. This forum helped me when I needed it. Paying it forward.

Yassine

[Jrogeliora]

Hello! Glad to hear you are happy now! Would you mind to share some photos if you have? Thanks