24 Mar 09 MEN IN BED: INSTANT POTENCY
New injection therapy. Men have described it as miraculous. After years of living with impotence they are amazed to find that a single injection can restore their potency in an instant.
Penile injections are the latest treatment for impotence and if they are used correctly they can achieve immediate and spectacular success. All a man need do is inject himself and seconds later he will have a full erection which should last about thirty minutes.
With such rapid results it’s easy to understand how enthusiasm for these injections has grown. But now there is concern in the medical community that this enthusiasm has overreached itself and that the injections, which contain a cocktail of chemicals including a synthetic hormone, are being abused. It is claimed some clinics are using the injections indiscriminately. They are giving the injections for long-term use to men who don’t really need them and who may ultimately be harmed rather than helped by them. Penile injections carry a significant risk of complications which increases with long-term use — complications which can, paradoxically, lead to impotence.
There are basically two types of impotence — organic and psychological. Organic impotence results from physical problems such as nerve damage, diabetes or impaired blood flow into the penis. Psychological impotence is the result of an emotional block or difficulty. Some men have a bit of both.
Men with organic impotence have less to lose if they use the injections. If they develop a complication, they stop the treatment and revert to being impotent. Apart from some cell damage, they have lost nothing. Injections can be an excellent treatment for men suffering from organic impotence but should not be regarded as a long-term treatment for other sexual problems.
However, men with psychological impotence run a sizeable risk. They are physically healthy to start with, and if they develop cell damage, they may end up with actual physical impotence. The same is true if long-term injection therapy is used to treat men suffering other problems, like low libido or premature ejaculation.
Sometimes it is reasonable to use injections initially to lock-start’ the recovery of men with conditions like premature ejaculation and psychological impotence, but these must be used as an adjunct to other therapies. The injections are useful because they can show a man what is possible and help rebuild his confidence. But they aren’t a panacea for male sexual dysfunction.
They are effective in specific selected cases but men who use them need to be constantly monitored to ensure they are not developing complications. Although injections do achieve good results they are invasive: they put a little hole in the penis and there is a risk of infection and scarring. Further, they have only been in use for around ten years and no one knows what the consequences of long-term use will be. There is concern that these injections are being given too freely, without proper evaluation. They should never be prescribed for long-term use without a full history and thorough physical examination.
The rate of complications varies with the type of drug. One complication, known as priapism (inappropriately persistent erections), may occur in up to 15 per cent of men and is usually most troublesome in the early days when doctors are trying to determine the correct dose. Painful fibrotic nodules have also been reported to occur in high numbers of patients. They are related to the frequency of injections and the length of time the men have been giving themselves the injections. In more severe cases these nodules can lead to a bent or curved penis which often cannot be treated.
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Tags: Women’s Health
