Dr. Tom Walsh answers questions about erectile dysfunction.
**Below is a transcript of the video**
Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Tom Walsh. I am a board-certified urologist and I am the director of UW Medicine Men’s Health Center. The Men’s Health Center is a center that we’ve designed around men, focused on male-specific health needs, in particular those that pertain to male sexual function, reproductive function, and male hormones.
I’ve been asked today to answer some questions related to male sexual function and we’ll go ahead and start with those.
What causes an erection?
A male erection is a neurovascular event. What that means is that it’s a nerve impulse that’s relayed from a man’s brain through his spinal cord to arteries that supply the penis. The penis is comprised of paired erectile bodies that become engorged with blood to cause an erection. When a nerve impulse travels to these arteries that supply the penis, it causes those arteries to dilate causing the penis to fill rapidly to create pressure in the system. Eventually, that pressure gets so high that it pinches off the blood supply leaving the penis, allowing the pressure to rise even higher. It’s that tumescence or that pressure in the penis that leads to erection.
What is erectile dysfunction?
Erectile dysfunction is when there is an inability for a man to either obtain or maintain an erection that is adequate for sexual function. There is some subjectivity to this. Erectile dysfunction usually results when there is some injury or poor function along the pathway that leads to erection. For example, if a man loses libido, if he loses nerve stimulation or the ability of those arteries that supply the erection to dilate, that can cause erectile dysfunction.
What’s really important for men to realize is that most all men in their lifetime, if they’re fortunate to live long enough, will experience E.D. and every man can find a treatment that works to restore their erections.
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