Treatment choices

What next?
If your doctor has decided that you have PE then the next step will be to discuss treatment options. There are a number of treatment options available, and your doctor is best placed to work with you to suggest an appropriate approach to fit with your lifestyle and situation.

Remember to give honest feedback to your doctor on how you're finding the treatment as you may need to try more than one approach before you find the one that works best for you. There is no need to suffer in silence!

Where to find treatments?
PE is a serious medical condition, and needs to be treated as seriously as any other condition. You may have seen treatments for PE advertised on the internet or elsewhere. You might be tempted to try them, but you should be aware of the dangers.

PE is a medical condition, and needs to be treated as seriously as any other condition. You may have seen treatments for PE advertised on the internet or elsewhere. You might be tempted to try them, but you should be aware of the dangers.

As with all prescription drugs you see advertised for sale on the internet, it is impossible to know what you will receive when you buy drugs for PE online. Government officials from around the world have warned of the potential risks associated with illegal imitation drugs, including the risk of death in extreme circumstances. It is far better to speak to your doctor and make sure you get effective treatment and proper monitoring.

Treatment choices

Once a diagnosis of PE is confirmed by the doctor, the next step is to think about treatment options. The aim of treatment should be to gain control of ejaculation for the man and to restore a satisfactory sexual experience for both the man and his partner¹⁰.

There a number of treatment strategies now available for PE¹⁴:

Behavioural techniques

1. Guidance on behavioural techniques is generally provided by a sex therapist rather than your doctor.
2. The 'stop-start' and 'squeeze' technique involve a series of exercises practiced over many weeks or months designed to increase the feeling of control over ejaculation.
   – The basic principle is to stimulate the penis alone or with a partner until just before the point of ejaculation, and then stopping stimulation until arousal is lower.
3. These techniques work best in stable relationships because they require the committed assistance and understanding of the partner to be effective.

Psychological counselling

1. Psychological counselling can be effective for some men who learn to modulate their psychosexual response and gain some conscious control over ejaculation, although the cost of multiple counselling sessions can be high¹⁵
2. However, counselling may be used to treat the secondary psychological symptoms of PE like low self-esteem and relationship difficulties.

Treatment choices

Reducing penile sensation

1. Reducing the sensitivity of the penis can increase the time to ejaculation in men with PE. Common techniques include the use of special condoms and anaesthetic creams or sprays.
2. Anaesthetic treatments are applied directly to the head of the penis between 5 and 30 minutes before sexual intercourse. Anaesthetics can sometimes cause numbness of the penis or vagina so reducing pleasurable sensations during sexual intercourse.

Drug treatment

1. A number of drugs are sometimes used to treat PE that have been developed and licensed for other medical conditions like pain relief or depression¹⁶. Drugs that are unlicensed for PE are only prescribed at the discretion and responsibility of each individual doctor
2. At present, there is only one drug that has been licensed specifically for the treatment of PE.
   – PRILIGY^TM (dapoxetine) is a pill that you swallow 1-3 hours before sexual intercourse and studies with over 6,000 men with PE have shown that it is well tolerated¹⁷.
   – Although it is licensed in some countries, PRILIGY^TM isn't available for purchase yet. You should be cautious about any offers to purchase PRILIGY^TM from sources such as the internet because you may be receiving an illegal imitation product that could present a significant risk to your health.