Is prostatitis the cause of erectile dysfunction?
To be honest, this is a provocative question. Because patients like this do come to me. They have been to other doctors, who diagnose them with prostatitis and prescribe not only treatment for prostatitis but even treatment that doesn’t fit it, and the patient gets no benefit at all.
Prostatitis never causes erectile dysfunction. I say this firmly, and our patients, our men, should not be misled on this point. Let me explain the anatomy: the nerves responsible for potency run along the lower lateral parts of the prostate toward the penis, and prostatitis, if present, is an inflammation inside the prostate.
And it never affects these nerves. So in such cases other diagnostic and treatment methods need to be used, and our patients should not be misled. Treating prostatitis is never a treatment for erectile dysfunction.
The cause of erectile dysfunction is very often neurological. That is, these are conditions related to the nervous system. Ordinary stress, being nervous — all of these can cause erectile dysfunction.
Of course, damage to the nerves I mentioned can occur, for example in prostate cancer, or if there is a prostate abscess, a collection of pus, and it damages those nerves — then yes, erectile dysfunction can occur. That is possible. But ordinary chronic or acute prostatitis never causes it.
In such cases it may also be necessary to examine the vessels going to the penis and the vessels returning from it. Because problems or disease of those vessels themselves can also lead to erectile dysfunction. And of course age also matters here.
With an individual approach to the patient, this condition can be treated. Sometimes it can be treated with just two ordinary medications. Again, an individual approach is necessary here.
The main answer to your question is simply this: wrong treatments should not be given on the basis of a wrong diagnosis. Don’t be misled by such things. Erectile dysfunction should not be treated with general methods, that is, with treatment intended for prostatitis or for other diseases. My recommendation is to see an experienced, competent doctor.
Last updated: