Smoking related Sexual Impotence
Smoking Cigarettes Can Lead to Erectile Dysfunction in Men
Smoking related Impotence, or penis erectile dysfunction, is the sustained inability of a man to have or maintain a proper erection. The condition is believed to affect approx 2 in 15 men between the ages of 20 and 77 - that translates to around 30 million men in the USA as well as two to 3 million men in the UK. In up to 74% of recorded cases, the cause is physical.
Smoking results in increased risk of getting erectile dysfunction by approx 51% for men in their 30s thru 40s. Conditions like Diabetes, high cholesterol levels and use of drugs to treat high blood pressure in men are also considered as important risk factors.
It is believed that millions of US, Canadian and UK Men in their 30s and 40s have become impotent as a resuly of smoking. It is important not to underestimate these figures, because they most likely not include the ocurrence of impotence due to previous smoking in men who gave up smoking years back.
When a smoker gets an erection, large volumes of blood flow, under pressure, into the penile arteries. This results in the veins which drain the penis to become compressed, thus preventing the immediate outflow of blood. This process is consequently damaged by smoking.
A decrease of blood flow into the penis can be anticipated when the inflow route is blocked by longer term build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries (atherosclerosis) this caused, partly, as a result of cigarette smoking.
Quick contractions in penis tissues, a direct an immediate result of nicotine stimulation in the brain, impair normal arterial blood dupply into the male sexual organ. This is often referred to as acute vasospasm.
The valve mechanisms that keeps the blood in the mans penis is restricted as a result of nicotine intake in the blood stream. This is called venous dilation.