Patient's question:
I am 24 years old, but I started masturbating very early and have been doing so for ten years now. My penis is particularly small; when erect, it is only 10 centimeters long and about the thickness of a thumb. It is also very difficult for me to get an erection, 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, I also struggle to maintain an erection. There have been a few times when I did get an erection, but it went soft before I could even take off my clothes. I don’t want to go to the hospital for this; is there any medication that can help?Additionally, I have very little facial hair, almost none at all. 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 centimeters after achieving an erection is normal. Below, I will introduce the 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 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. Even in healthy elderly people over 65, there can still be a total of 1-1.5 hours of nocturnal erection time. Even children often have erections during sleep.
Clearly, nocturnal reflexive erections are unrelated to sexual stimulation and are not affected by psychological factors. Therefore, they can be used to distinguish whether impotence is caused by psychological factors or by disease factors. 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 disease factor, requiring further investigation to identify the root cause. If an impotent patient has normal nocturnal erections, it is unlikely to be caused by a disease factor but rather by psychological 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 has torn. If it has, it indicates nocturnal erections. If the overlapping part comes loose, it is not meaningful.
(2) Penile Circumference Measurement: There is a commercially available tape measure (usually paper-based) with one end connected to a square buckle.