Impotence Health Video

Video Transcript

JUSTIN C. K. DAVIS: Hi! I'm Dr. Justin Davis and today I'd like to tell you a little bit about the condition known as impotence. Impotence is also known as erectile dysfunction. Erectile dysfunction or "ED" is a condition where a man is unable to maintain an erection in order to have successful intercourse. Now don't panic if this happens to you occasionally because it really happens to all men on occasion but what specifically erectile dysfunction describes is when on a consistent basis not even 25% of the time are you able to get a successful erection. There are many underlying causes for erectile dysfunction or impotence and some of these are very highly treatable and important to diagnose because they may belie other conditions that are underlying. And what I mean by this for example is that the process by which a man gets an erection is when the blood flow to the penis increases the smooth muscle of the penis relaxes and the blood is able to go into a very spongy-like tissue and it becomes engorged thereby causing an erection. Well, if something is causing this blood flow not to be able to go into the penis thereby causing erectile dysfunction or impotence then that can let you know that there is another problem that maybe affecting blood flow. An example of this could be severe heart disease. Another example would be diabetes or even prediabetes. So again if you have this problem its important not to ignore it, not only because there's a lot of potential treatments for it, but because it's important to diagnose if you may have another serious underlying condition. Now the symptom of erectile dysfunction, of course, everyone knows the major symptom which is not being able to get an erection. However, again, don't forget that this will happen to most men on occasion but it's the consistent inability to maintain an erection that really describes it as a disease process. Well, the treatment these days, number one is to identify the underlying cause, so for example you have a problem with blood flow and its very important to address that blood flow problem or that cardiac problem, diabetes problem, whatever it may be and treat that first, or other instances erectile dysfunction may be secondary or cause by a low testosterone level. So the treatment in that case would be to give a hormone testosterone so that it's had a normal level, but regardless of the cause, there are certain medicines designed today that can enhance the blood flow to the penis thereby causing it easier to get and maintain an erection. These are commonly known as Cialis, Levitra, and Viagra. All these work in a similar way and can benefit many men regardless of the cause who have erectile dysfunction. There are also some other less well known ways to correct the problem of impotence or erectile dysfunction that involve injecting certain kinds of medicines or inserting very small medicines into the tip of the penis. There are potential surgeries that can be done as a last resort and even some devices are made that create a suction around the penis which can actually draw blood into the penis causing an erection and then a ring will be put at the base of the penis trapping the blood there long enough to have successful intercourse. So again, whatever the underlying condition is that maybe causing your ED or impotence, then make sure you let a doctor know because we want to be able to treat the underlying cause and we also want to help you, people to maintain a normal and healthy sex life.