Premature ejaculation is the inability to control, manage or delay an ejaculation. In turn, this results are a dissatisfied sexual partner and unaccomplished man during intimacy. Premature ejaculation has been classified as something that is either acquired or a lifelong condition, with lifelong condition being a primary issue.
In South Africa, the occurrence of premature ejaculation observed in men is around 21 to 31 percent.
In a dramatic sense, premature ejaculations have a very diminishing effect on the quality of one’s life and the life of their sexual partner. Premature ejaculation can lead to other more damming issue that correlate with the quality of life. Some things that may occur due to premature ejaculation is men feeling distressed psychologically, a decrease in self-esteem and adequacy, erectile dysfunction, anxiety, a decrease in libido and/or stressed interpersonal relationships. Because of the emotional burden that premature ejaculations causes a man, some men are reluctant to the idea of seeking help from a medical professional.
Usually conditions involving sexual dysfunctionality is under-reported and under-treated because men have shame and low self-esteem due to the condition
This along with doctors being uncomfortable helping men manage the condition because they are uncertain as to how to approach treatment and the discussion to uncover what the condition is that is being experienced. The implications of premature ejaculation is heavily a contributor to psychological effects and become damaging to interpersonal relationships. Premature ejaculation causes men to avoid emotional and physical intimacy due to the psychological stress the condition puts on them and they do not want to pass on that stress to a partner or expose their condition. Men experiencing this condition and hiding it usually fall victim to bogus medical claims and advertisements that has no evidence basis to actually help men overcome premature ejaculation. These advertisements prey on the weak and profit greatly from men vulnerability.
Premature ejaculation is a very common sexual dysfunction among men, with a greater impact observed among men of the younger age group
In seeking help in a medical setting, some doctors are uncertain on how to approach the assessment process to uncover the issue. This makes its challenging when trying to obtain the necessary information to be able to properly remedy the dysfunction. Men should undergo a full medical assessment to investigate their medical, sexual, social, psychological and drug history, accompanied with their sexual partner’s history. Treatment should be done with the man and his partner to ensure that there are not other factors contributing to the condition.
Treatment choices are likely to vary based on the symptoms being experienced, psychological implications, side effects and patient decision of what approach they want to explore
Currently, surgical management for premature ejaculation is not recommended. Surgical management is under investigation and is in an experimental phase. Some of the surgical therapies that are underway are the dorsal penile nerve cryoablation, neuromodulation and hyaluronic acid gel gland augmentation.
Also, botulinum toxin injection are being explored to be injected into the ejaculatory muscle in the penis to help minimize the sensitivity during sexual activity. None of these treatment options are currently promoted as the side effects are undetermined. There are no particular investigation that is done to confirm or reject premature ejaculation.
Even though surgical management is not currently recommended, in South Africa there is a new device that is designed to elongate the time men experience a sexual encounter prior to ejaculation
The device is currently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and is available locally to South Africans and online to everyone else. The device works in a way to greatly reduce the sensitivity during intercourse that cause premature ejaculation. The idea of the device is that a man will masturbate with a start-stop process three times while the device is in place. Men are expected to see results from using this device after the use of 3 times a week for 6 weeks.
All in all, men who experience premature ejaculation will more than likely require multiple management techniques that will target psychological and behavioral components. Men should be under the supervision of a medical provider when being treated for the condition to ensure the targeted results are being met and sexual satisfaction is being obtained. Additional investigation is more so geared to rule out contributing factors that are uncovered in the history.