Erectile Dysfunction (ED) Treatment

The Centre for Men’s Health offers expert diagnosis, treatment and advice for ED and related conditions for patients in London and Manchester, as well as the rest of the UK.

What is Erectile Dysfunction (ED)?

Erectile dysfunction (ED), also known as impotence, is a term covering a range of difficulties with sexual function causing a man to be unable to get and maintain an erection that is sufficient for satisfactory sexual intercourse.

However, although it is a wide term, ED does not cover cases where a normal erection is possible but there is a problem with orgasm or ejaculation. The most common of these is premature ejaculation, where although an adequate erection is possible, arousal and ejaculation occur too rapidly for satisfactory sexual intercourse. 

Why ED matters and seeking early advice and help is important.

ED can have a major negative impact both on a man’s self-esteem and on his intimate relationships. It is often hard for the man to admit that he is suffering from erection problems and difficulty with talking to a sexual partner about the situation can easily lead to a worsening relationship and an unfulfilling sex life for both parties. In such cases, early expert advice from a doctor, providing help and treatment, can prevent problems with erectile dysfunction becoming entrenched and by providing a cure can pave the way to a return to a happy and healthy sex life for the couple.

However, in addition to the possible personal esteem and relationship consequences, it is important for men to get specialist advice from a doctor about ED as the problem can also be an early warning sign of underlying medical problems, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

What causes erectile dysfunction (ED)?

The cause or causes can be medical or psychological (mental) or a combination of both.

Medical: ED can be the result of testosterone deficiency, when a man’s level of total or active testosterone becomes too low (deficient), or their body is unable to make effective use of the testosterone in the blood (testosterone resistant). Erectile dysfunction, together with loss of sex drive, are common and distressing symptoms of testosterone deficiency. If you are concerned you may be suffering from testosterone deficiency, try completing the Testosterone Deficiency Syndrome Symptom Review Test (click here) developed by international expert doctors as part of their assessment of whether a man has the condition.

Erectile dysfunction can also be the result of narrowing of the blood vessels going to and in the penis. This can be due e.g. to cardiovascular disease or diabetes. ED can provide an important early warning marker for underlying medical problems, enabling preventive action to be taken to deal with any associated lifestyle or other risk factors. Erectile Dysfunction can also be caused by surgery or injury to the penis.

Psychological: Where problems with erections only happen in certain situations or with particular sexual partners, it is likely that the cause is psychological and connected to stress, anxiety, depression or relationship issues.

Is there a test for erectile dysfunction? How is ED diagnosed and treated at the clinic?

Diagnosis is based on a careful assessment by doctors in one of our ED clinics in London or Manchester of symptoms, medical history, current physical and mental health, lifestyle factors, a physical examination, and a blood test.

During your appointment at the clinic, this enables the doctor to assess whether the likely causes of the erectile dysfunction are medical, psychological, or a combination and to decide on the best course of treatment, if required.

The erectile dysfunction treatment depends on whether the underlying cause of the ED is medical or psychological.

Is there a cure or remedy for ED and what are the erectile dysfunction treatment options?

Where the cause is medical there are a range of proven medications and ED treatments, such as sildenafil (sold as Viagra). Research undertaken by doctors at the Centre for Men’s Health’s ED clinics in London and Manchester has shown that in around two thirds of cases, treating the underlying hormonal deficiency can restore both libido and potency.

In the remaining third, our studies have shown that combining testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), usually in the form of gels or injections, with ED medications such as Viagra (sildenafil), Levitra (vardenafil) and Cialis (tadalafil) brings our success rate with erectile dysfunction treatment to over 95%.

For those few men where erectile function is not fully restored by testosterone replacement in combination with erection enhancers, doctors at the Centre for Men’s Health clinics can provide other erection inducing treatments.

In cases of psychologically induced ED, where drugs are not a cure for erectile dysfunction, talking based specialist therapies such as sex therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy may be used. The Centre can provide referral to expert practitioners in these therapies as part of a treatment package.

Sources:

Corona G and Maggi M, The role of testosterone in erectile dysfunction, Nature Reviews Urology volume 7, pages 46–56 (2010).

Abdulmaged M. Traish, Irwin Goldstein, Noel N. Kim, Testosterone and erectile function: from basic research to a new clinical paradigm for managing men with androgen insufficiency and erectile dysfunction, European Eurology 52 (2007) 54-70.

Aksam A Yassin and Farid Saad, Testosterone and Erectile Dysfunction, Journal of Andrology (2013).

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