FirstMed Consulting Blog

Throughout history strong associations have been suggested between our sense of smell and our sexual appetites. The nose and genitals have something in common: they both contain erectile tissue, which swells as it engorges with blood before and during sex. There can be no confusion about why the penis needs to become erect, but for the vagina and the nose, it seems to be a case of increasing sensation. A nose pumped up with blood is much more sensitive to smells.

Smell is a very important part of sex . Most animals secrete subtle aromatic chemicals called pheromones, which act as chemical messengers. Some pheromones send messages of sexual availability. So does losing your sense of smell also mean losing much of their libido? Not in the case of men taking Viagra it would seem.

Since a German researchers report in The Journal of Urology last week, there has been countless news reports suggesting that higher doses of Viagra (sildenafil) may impair the ability to smell. A team led by Dr V Gudziol at the University of Dresden Medical School studied 20 healthy, young male volunteers who received Viagra, at a 50- or 100-mg dose, or inactive “placebo” and then were exposed to an odor-dispensing device. The researchers tested the subjects` odor detection threshold, odor discrimination and odor identification ability. They found that the 100-mg dose caused a drop in smelling or “olfactory” ability, specifically odor discrimination and odor threshold, compared with placebo. The 50-mg dose, by contrast, had no effect on olfactory function.

”In our subjects, the most likely reason for impaired…olfactory function was nasal congestion” brought on by Viagra, the authors write. They note that, while it was not evaluated in this study, previous reports have linked Viagra with a drop in nasal airflow. The studies didn’t mention whether or not this change in smelling ability affected the men’s ability to maintain an eretion. My guess is no.