Male's Concerns of Enhancement Options

Media such as various forms of pornography generally depict men with large genitalia, not for accuracy or realism but for fantasy and showmanship. Spam emails convey messages about not being good enough or big enough, thus playing on male insecurities to make billions of dollars annually on male enhancement products.

It is important for health professionals, partners, parents, and caregivers, and educators to be sensitive to a male's concern for penis size, whether founded or unfounded. Concerns can lead to a man’s lower self-esteem, self-worth, depression, and even radical reactions, such as spending money and resources on unproven male enhancement products or even surgery.

Ironically, with men knowing that so many men are concerned for their penis size, it should become more obvious that only a few males exceed well beyond the average. Health professionals are advised to have frank age appropriate discussions with males when they are younger, and educators should not be averse to covering this topic in sexuality or even psychology and sociology classes.

Educators can help dispel common myths and teach media literacy strategies and skills to help redefine the norm of penis sizes.

Options and Treatments

The medical industry has responded to male's concerns by offering many options and treatments ranging from the mild to the extreme (Korenman, 2004). Many companies offer ED products that claim to reverse ED or enhance male sexual pleasure.

Unfortunately, many of the latter are little more than "snake oil." The term enhancement is vague. Men may perceive these claims to mean a bigger (longer or thicker) penis, while claims may refer to increased blood flow to the organ and thus more frequent and/ or stronger erections.

Some of the older methods of enhancing manhood include herbal remedies and physical devices such as pumps. Herbal claims include products such as yohimbe, epimedium leaf extract (horny goat weed),cuscuta seed extract, gingko biloba extract, tribulis terrestrius, saffron, taj, and safflower root (Gutmann, 2009).

Many commercial products include these herbal products in their proprietary blends to enhance male function. Major health issues concerning these products are threefold:

1. they are largely unregulated by agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and therefore lack appropriate data as to their relative efficacy and safety;
2. men often are misled by the product claims and may misuse or overuse the product, and;
3. men may delay treatment or medical follow-up by trying these products.

Other non-health issues concerning these products include efficacy, financial issues, and whether they are well documented or even physiologically possible. It is not possible to "grow a larger penis," as several products claim to do, but these herbals may optimize erectile function by enhancing blood flow or encouraging systemic testosterone levels, which also has been shown to produce better, more frequent erections.

Herbals have not been scientifically proven or supported to cause the penis to grow longer or thicker, but, instead they may help with what a man already has. Nonherbal products include gadgets and devices such as pneumatic pumping devices (penis pumps), stretching (traction) apparatuses, and combinations of the two.

Most of these devices provide little to no empirical evidence that their products do what they claim. Pneumatic penis pumps generally incorporate a suction canister connected to a pump hose that can be manually or electronically activated. Pumping causes the air to be evacuated outside of the canister, thus creating a vacuum seal around the head and shaft of the penis.

This technique encourages blood flow to the penis, but does not increase size. While blood flow appears to increase the relative size of the penis, the results are temporary once the device is removed and blood flow returns to a pre-pumped state. Used over time, these devices may encourage blood to flow more freely, especially if there are blockages, scar tissue, or plaques built up in the blood vessels of the penis (Kazem, llosseini, Alizadeh, 2005).

It should be made clear however, that there is no empirical evidence that pumping devices make the penis longer or thicker permanently. Stretching or traction devices have recently become popular. Devices are attached to the closest part of the base of the penis as the stable end, and the far end encompasses the tip of the penis. A predetermined amount of traction force is then applied to the penis and is left on for a specified amount of time per day.

The theory behind these types of products is that the erectile tissues and suspensory ligaments that stabilize the penis will yield over time and become more plastic in terms of mobility. While there may be theoretical concepts and anecdotal support for these types of enhancement devices, evidence-based empirical data are not available (Kazem et al, 2005).

Combination devices attempt to merge these two concepts. Efficacy appears to be the same. Ultimately, there is little to no strong evidence that these devices work and are little more than a novelty or fetish for some people. Alternatively, some men and their partners may enjoy the excitement and novelty of using penis enhancement products. If these are used as part of healthy sexual experience and there are no known health risks, enhancement devices can be quite enjoyable.

A trained medical professional such as a primary care physician or a specialist such as a urologist can advise if a man is concerned about his penile health or related issues.

Reference

James E. Leone - Concepts in Male Health: Perspectives Across The Lifespan