Erectile Dysfunction

Penis is an anatomically porous organ. These pores are filled with blood with sexual stimulation, and the penis enlarges and gets hardened. For the penis to get hardened with the sexual stimulation, depending on the signals sent from the central nervous system through the nerves, arteries expand and carry blood to the penis. Meanwhile, the veins narrow and do not carry the blood coming to the penis back and ensure that it is trapped in the penis. In other words, for a healthy erection, firstly the nerves and the vessels need to function healthily. Also, hormones play important roles during erection process.

The hardening of the penis (erection) is a complicated process in which hormones, nerves, vessels, and also psychological factors play a role. Erectile dysfunction may arise due to any problem in any stage of this process. Therefore, erectile dysfunction may result from biological/organic problems related to hormones, or from completely psychological problems.

Sometimes the psychological problems are added on the biological problems, causing the situation to get more complicated. To solve the problem in the right way, the underlying reason or reasons must be analyzed well.

Sexuality in people is a process consisting of biological, psychological, and social factors. Being biologically healthy is not sufficient for the penis to get erected. Psychological factors are as effective as biological and organic factors in the erection mechanism. Since sexuality in men is mostly focused on performance and score, the fear of not being able to show the same performance all the time is called performance anxiety and is one of the common causes of erectile dysfunction.

Obsessions about penis size can also cause erectile dysfunction in men. In addition, conditions that affect psychological health such as anxiety disorders, depression, substance abuse, alcoholism, and childhood traumas are the main causes of erectile dysfunction.

Erectile dysfunction can be treated more successfully thanks to the recent technological developments. Today, it is possible to solve this problem by determining the source of the problem, together with a better understanding of the anatomy of the penis and a better understanding of the mechanisms that cause an erection. We can now successfully identify problems in the vascular structures of the penis, hormonal problems, or psychological problems that may cause erectile dysfunction and produce solutions aimed at the source of the problem.

With the advancing of age, erectile dysfunction is more common due to disorders in hormone production and problems in vascular structures. While the reasons for the erectile dysfunction seen at younger ages have psychological origins, problems related to the hormones and the vascular structures come to the fore in older ages.

Surgical treatments can be effective in the erectile dysfunction caused by vascular problems. However, surgical treatments must be considered only after methods such as shock wave therapy (ESWT) and medicinal treatments are tried and failed. The most commonly used surgical treatment method for erectile dysfunction is penile prosthesis implantation surgery. With the penile prostheses, a pleasant sexual life is possible even in older ages.

It is completely normal for men to have a loss of erection after ejaculation and not to have an erection again in a short time. The time between these two intercourses, which is not felt much at young ages, gradually increases with age.

There may be curvatures in the penis that are congenital or appear with age. If this curvature is so advanced that it prevents the penis from penetrating the vagina, it may need to be surgically treated.