| Mechanical devices have long been used to treat | | | | suggests that although 92 percent of men maintain |
| impotence. One popular brand is the Erec-Aid System | | | | they can achieve a satisfactory VCD-induced |
| which has been available since 1983. How does it | | | | erection, only 75 percent continue to use the device. |
| work and what can you expect from this device? | | | | These men limit intercourse to about once every |
| In Male Sexual Health: A Couple's Guide published by | | | | two weeks, perhaps because of side effects or |
| Consumer Reports Books, Dr. Richard F. Spark, | | | | mechanical problems," said Spark, a member of the |
| associate clinical professor of medicine at Harvard | | | | American Fertility Society and the American |
| Medical School and a member of the International | | | | Federation of Clinical Research. |
| Society for Impotence Research, explains the | | | | "Pain and discomfort were common experiences. |
| process: | | | | Black and blue marks on the penis occurred in almost |
| "There are several components to the Erec-Aid | | | | all the men. All respondents indicated they needed a |
| device. A cylinder designed to fit over the limp penis | | | | considerable amount of practice time to learn to use |
| is connected to a hand operated vacuum pump. | | | | the unit, and once they had acquired the skill to use |
| Suction from the pump creates a negative pressure | | | | it, the interval from initiating vacuum suction to the |
| within the cylinder, and this encourages an increased | | | | development of an erection ranged from 30 seconds |
| flow of arterial blood to the penis. Venous outflow is | | | | to more than seven minutes and averaged |
| prevented by tight bands that fit over the base of | | | | two-and-a-half minutes," he added. |
| the penis. A petroleum jelly-like substance lubricates | | | | Moreover, the kind of erection one gets with |
| the system and seals the base of the cylinder. When | | | | Erec-Aid is not perfect. Four significant points were |
| a user achieves an adequate erection (and with the | | | | raised by Spark in Male Sexual Health: |
| rubber bands inhibiting venous outflow still attached), | | | | Once the erection has been induced by the vacuum, |
| he removes the cylinder. The vacuum induced | | | | the rubber bands in place at the base of the penis |
| erection is maintained for up to 3O minutes." | | | | choke off blood flow into the penis. This causes |
| How effective is the process? For sure, the limp | | | | penile skin temperatures to fall to 96°F. |
| penis does become rigid after three to seven | | | | One-third of the female partners of men using VCDs |
| minutes in the vacuum chamber but it takes a certain | | | | found the chilled penis displeasing during intercourse. |
| amount of skill to operate the device. Sexual foreplay | | | | Another drawback is that as the penis becomes |
| may be interrupted and those with the patience to | | | | engorged and congested by the VCD-induced suction |
| stuff their penises into the chamber in order to get | | | | and inhibition of venous outflow, penile circumference |
| an erection may have other problems: penile pain | | | | increases more than it would during a normal erection. |
| (which is common in most men using this vacuum | | | | This gives the penis a sausage like appearance. |
| constrictor device or VCD), fainting and infection of | | | | Third, the erection created by the VCD is rigid only |
| the foreskin. These side effects were reported by | | | | from the point at which the rubber bands are affixed. |
| Dr. Perry Nadig, a urologist from San Antonio who | | | | This means that it is not fully upright like a normal |
| has extensively used the Erec-Aid device. | | | | erection, but flexible and capable of swiveling or |
| "Initial interpretation of questionnaires prepared and | | | | pivoting at its base. |
| distributed by the manufacturer of the VCD unit | | | | |