eMedicine Specialties > Urology > Erectile Dysfunction, Premature Ejaculation, and Sexual Disorders
Premature Ejaculation: Follow-up
Updated: May 5, 2009
Follow-up
Further Outpatient Care
- Outpatient care can be scheduled as appropriate for the clinical circumstances.
Inpatient & Outpatient Medications
- Premature ejaculation (rapid ejaculation) is a nonurgent problem that is treated best in an outpatient setting. Medication can be part of the treatment, and adjustments to medication may be necessary based on patient response. (See Treatment and Medication).
Deterrence/Prevention
- Future research might indicate whether the incidence of premature ejaculation in young men can be decreased by better sex education during adolescence. Early successful treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) possibly prevents secondary premature ejaculation in older men.
Complications
- Severe premature ejaculation can cause stress within a marriage or other relationship, which might contribute to conflicts and separation or divorce in some cases.
- Conception is also difficult in cases of premature ejaculation before vaginal intromission.
Prognosis
- Masters and Johnson claim that the great majority of men with premature ejaculation (>85%) can be treated successfully with the squeeze-pause technique alone. In most cases, they claim success is achieved within 3 months of the start of therapy.
- Although Masters and Johnson reported good results with the squeeze technique, clinical experience varies widely and some authors have observed much poorer success.11
- With a combination of methods, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)–type medications, achieving improvement or cure in most cases should be possible, provided that the couple (not just the man) is committed to working on this problem together.
- Numerous published reports also indicate that counseling and medical therapy can help achieve success rates as high as 85%, certainly equal to that reported originally by Masters and Johnson.
- The problem with all treatments for premature ejaculation is that the relapse rate is 20-50%, depending on the study; thus, the durability of the response can be questionable. Some males may need to make a long-term commitment to periodically repeating the behavioral techniques (long-standing habits can be difficult to modify). Some who succeed with medical therapy (ie, SSRIs) might need to use the medication for the rest of their lives, just as some people with depression need life-long medication to avoid repeated bouts of depression or many with high blood pressure need life-long antihypertensives to control their blood pressure. The precise long-term failure rates are not well established and depend on the duration of follow-up for a particular cohort of patients.
Patient Education
- Patients with premature ejaculation may be referred to a licensed sex therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, or marital counselor for additional help.
- Numerous books and articles in the lay press are available at any public library.
- Many can also find information on the Internet regarding this subject.
- For excellent patient education resources, visit eMedicine's Erectile Dysfunction Center. Also, see eMedicine's patient education articles Impotence/Erectile Dysfunction, Erectile Dysfunction FAQs, Nonsurgical Treatment of Erectile Dysfunction, and Understanding Erectile Dysfunction Medications.
Miscellaneous
Medicolegal Pitfalls
- Because premature ejaculation (rapid ejaculation) is not a medically dangerous condition, a failure to diagnose or to treat this condition successfully usually does not result in medicolegal problems.
- Before the availability of several nonsurgical methods for treating erectile dysfunction (ED), a patient mistakenly diagnosed with ED might have undergone a penile prosthesis implantation that would have yielded unsatisfactory results for the patient because of the incorrect initial diagnosis. Even in this scenario, the patient would climax prematurely, but he would still be able to engage in sexual intercourse because his erection would remain adequate because of the presence of the penile implant. Currently, penile implants are placed much more rarely, and with the use of nonsurgical treatments for ED, any permanent harm resulting from diagnosing ED rather than premature ejaculation is unlikely.
More on Premature Ejaculation |
| Overview: Premature Ejaculation |
| Differential Diagnoses & Workup: Premature Ejaculation |
| Treatment & Medication: Premature Ejaculation |
Follow-up: Premature Ejaculation |
| References |
| « Previous Page |
References
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Further Reading
Keywords
premature ejaculation, PE, primary premature ejaculation, secondary premature ejaculation, sexual dysfunction, ED, erectile dysfunction, rapid ejaculation, premature ejaculator, rapid ejaculator, performance anxiety, performance pressure, impotence, erection problem, rapid sexual release, primary PE, secondary PE, anorgasmia, lifelong premature ejaculation, acquired premature ejaculation
Follow-up: Premature Ejaculation