Related Programs

Sex and Intimacy in People Living with MS Reclaiming Your Sexual Life: Treatment Strategies for Erectile Dysfunction Inflatable Penile Pump Implant: Watch the Surgery What to Expect From a Penile Pump Implant Penile Pump Implants: A Long-Term Solution?

Erectile Dysfunction Erectile Dysfunction Basics

Erectile Dysfunction: Why Does it Happen?

Summary & Participants

If you're a sexually active man, the idea of losing your ability to have intercourse may be hard to imagine. But erectile dysfunction (ED) affects millions of men. What are the causes of this widespread condition? How do you know if you have erectile dysfunction -- and whether the cause is biological or psychological? Join our panel of experts and patients for a candid discussion of this sensitive issue.

Medically Reviewed On: July 23, 2008

Webcast Transcript

DAVID FOLK THOMAS: Welcome to our webcast. I'm David Folk Thomas. Today's topic is erectile dysfunction or male impotence or in everyday language, when you have trouble "getting it up." I think you know exactly what I'm talking about now. Fifteen million men in the United States suffer from erectile dysfunction. Of those, only 1 in 20 seek treatment. That makes this one of the most common untreated medical conditions in the world. We're going to try to shed some light on it for you and everybody out there.

Joining me are a couple of experts to discuss this today. On my left is Dr. Michael Perelman. He is a Cornell psychologist, specializing in sex and marital therapy in Manhattan. Next to Dr. Perelman is Dr. François Eid. He is the Director of the Center for Male Sexual Function at New York Hospital in Manhattan. Dr. Eid has also brought along a couple of patients with him. Off-camera we will be speaking with later Jim and John. Thanks for both of you to join us today.

DAVID FOLK THOMAS: Dr. Perelman, let's start with you. Just very simply -- I said erectile dysfunction, male impotence. What exactly is that condition?

MICHAEL PERELMAN, PhD: Inability to obtain or maintain erection so that you are able to perform adequately in order to both please yourself and usually pleasing your partner as well. Can you have intercourse is the most typical way of looking at it?

DAVID FOLK THOMAS: Dr. Eid, I had mentioned we have Jim and John off-camera with us. Maybe you can ask them how they first came to know that they had this problem.

J. FRANÇOIS EID, MD: Both these gentlemen, both Jim and John, had prostate surgery for prostate cancer and they both did very well. As sometimes happens, one of the consequences of the surgery was loss of erections. They dealt with it. They are going to share a little bit about their experience with us today.

John, do you want to say anything?

DAVID FOLK THOMAS: John, you knew I guess from what Dr. Eid said that one of the byproducts of prostate cancer surgery is impotence. Were you prepared going into this?

JOHN: I think more than a byproduct, it was a fear. Probably why it took me three months to get the operation after the diagnosis was that I was looking for different options -- that being C, that being a radical, that being ignoring it.

When I realized that my age and the situation that I was in mandated the radical only because of the logic of the future of my lifespan, I went through the decision with the fear of incontinence and impotence. What I was told, however, that I was starting to go through an era of new medications, hence the pill that would enable someone who was having slight difficulty possibly to have the erections and there were other types of procedures down the road.

Page 1 of 3 Next Page >>