Patient's question:
I am 24 years old, but I started masturbating at a very young age. It has been ten years now. My penis is particularly small; when erect, it is only 10 centimeters long and as thick as a thumb. It is also very difficult for me to get erect, and even when I do, it only lasts for three to five seconds before becoming soft. I also experience premature ejaculation during masturbation. Is there any medication that can treat this? When I am intimate with my girlfriend, it is also hard for me to get erect. There have been a few times when I did get erect, but I became soft before my clothes were even off. I don't want to go to the hospital for this. Is there any medication that can treat this?Additionally, I have very little facial hair, almost none. Is it possible that my hormone levels are low? Are there any medications that can promote hormone production?
Doctor's answer:
Hello, an erection reaching 9 cm after a man's penis becomes erect is normal. Below, I will introduce self-diagnosis and prevention of impotence:Many men cannot determine whether they suffer from impotence, but in fact, they can judge the nature of impotence from the nocturnal erection of the penis. Normal men of all ages can experience reflexive penile erections during sleep. During adolescence, the average number of nightly erections is about 6, with each lasting 20-30 minutes; in young adulthood, the average is about 4 nightly erections; and even in healthy elderly people over 65, there can still be a total of 1-1.5 hours of nocturnal erections per night. Even children often experience penile erections during sleep.
Clearly, nocturnal reflexive erections are unrelated to sexual stimulation and are not affected by psychological or mental factors. Therefore, they can be used to distinguish whether impotence is caused by psychological or mental factors or by medical conditions. If an impotent patient has no nocturnal erections or if the degree of erection is below the normal range for their age group, it may indicate a medical condition, requiring further investigation to identify the root cause. If an impotent patient has normal nocturnal erections, it is unlikely to be caused by a medical condition but rather by psychological or mental factors.
There are several methods for self-diagnosing nocturnal penile erections:
(1) Stamp Test: Place four around the penis, stick the overlapping parts together to form a ring, and then go to sleep. In the morning, check whether the stamp perforations are torn. If they are torn, it indicates nocturnal erections. If the overlapping part comes loose, it has no meaning.
(2) Penile Circumference Measurement: There is a commercially available tape measure (usually paper-based) with one end connected to a square buckle.