Patient's question:
Does the disease of the prostate have a significant impact on sexual function?Doctor's answer:
Hello, prostatitis is a common and prevalent condition in urology, especially chronic prostatitis. It, along with benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostatic hypertrophy in the elderly, has become a common urological issue troubling men. Today, I will also focus on the impact of prostatitis on sexual function. As the host mentioned earlier, many people cannot connect the two, but in fact, prostatitis and chronic prostatitis have a significant impact on sexual function. Because one of the key symptoms of prostatitis is its effect on sexual function, I will discuss the main symptoms of chronic prostatitis. First is pain, primarily located in the perineum, anus, posterior urethra, groin, lumbosacral region, testicles, penis, and even reflex pain below the knees. The second is urinary irritation symptoms. Prostatitis often causes milky white discharge from the urethral orifice, especially when abdominal pressure increases during defecation, leading to frequent urination, urgency, dysuria, incomplete emptying, difficulty urinating, and a burning sensation at the urethral orifice, making it feel hot. The third is symptoms related to the reproductive system, including the impact on sexual function and sperm production. This can manifest as decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, painful ejaculation, hematospermia, nocturnal emissions, and other sexual dysfunctions. Additionally, there may be abnormal semen characteristics such as liquefaction failure, low sperm vitality, reduced survival rate, increased abnormal sperm count, and sperm agglutination, which are the main causes of male infertility. The fourth is that prostatitis can cause mental symptoms, such as fatigue, melancholy, restlessness, insomnia, frequent dreams, forgetfulness, and in severe cases, fear, anger, low self-esteem, and even suicidal tendencies. In rare cases, there may be general weakness, lower back and knee soreness, dizziness, tinnitus, poor appetite, and other symptoms. Prostatitis has many symptoms, and through the discussion above, we have found that prostatitis indeed affects sexual function. Some people may ask, "Prostatitis is prostatitis, how does it affect sexual function?" There are mainly a few reasons. Prostatitis can cause local circulatory disorders, which prevents the penis from becoming normally engorged and thus leads to erection difficulties. Poor blood circulation means that in clinical practice, we often perform penile arterial blood flow imaging on individuals with sexual dysfunction. During the examination, we find poor blood flow. Prostatitis can also cause circulatory disorders, so it can lead to poor penile engorgement and difficulty achieving an erection.