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Men's Sexual Health

Dissecting the 4 Hour Erection

Men who use Viagra or any of its other forms regularly are familiar with the "4 hour erection" warning - the one that says you should contact a doctor immediately if you have an erection that lasts for 4 hours or more. But what exactly are these 4 hour erections, what causes them, and most importantly, are they really as dangerous to our health as the pharma companies would have you believe?

The condition is medically known as priapism, named after the Greek god of fertility Priapus. He was endowed with a permanently erect penis, and in fact, so stupendous was his penis size that he actually used it to frighten away people who tried to intrude in his garden. It may seem like a fun condition to have - which man would not like to boast about an erection that lasts for 4 hours? - but the reality is the priapism can be a very painful condition. Most men who visit emergency rooms with a prolonged erection do so because of the pain they experience.

In spite of the association of priapism with erectile dysfunction medication like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, there are very few chances of an occurrence of priapism in people who take these drugs. The FDA makes it mandatory for companies to include this warning in their packaging, but the truth is that the incidences of prolonged erection among ED medication users are very rare. According to FDA statistics, there have been just 93 cases of prolonged erection or painful erection reported in 2007. 74 of these occurred in patients taking Viagra, 3 of them in Levitra users, and 16 in Cialis uses. Consider the millions of users who take erectile dysfunction medication on a regular basis, and you'll see this is just a tiny fraction of the total population.

So, why exactly does priapism occur? To understand why an erection continues for longer than needed, it's necessary to understand how an erection occurs in the first place. Erectile dysfunction medications don't set off erections on their own, and some amount of stimulation is necessary for an erection to be triggered. How they help is by increasing enzyme activity in the penis. When stimulation begins the penile tissues begin to fill with blood, and harden. Generally, this blood flows out after an orgasm, but in men who suffer from priapism, the blood isn't able to get out, leaving the person with a painfully erect penis.

So, what happens when you do suffer from priapism? Unfortunately, patients put off seeking professional medical help for this condition until it turns too painful to ignore. There are also horror stories of men who ignore the problem mainly due to embarrassment, and have suffered permanent penile damage as a result.

The most important thing that you need to do when you find yourself with a prolonged 4 hour erection is to seek emergency medical help as soon as possible. Treatment usually involves using a needle to drain the blood from the penis. In some cases, your doctor may use a surgical shunt to drain the blood. The longer you postpone the treatment of the condition, the more you expose yourself to permanent damage to your penis.