FirstMed Consulting Blog

With the ban on smoking in public places only around the corner it occurred to us at Firstmed that this would be a good time to highlight the effect smoking has on erectile function.

Smokers should expect to be hit with a nationwide campaign highlighting the damage smoke is doing to your health, to the health of those around you and now to your social life. The ban should be bearable during those warm summer months but come winter, huddling outside for the sake of a cigarette wouldn’t seem so appealing. If that isn’t incentive enough to give up, we at Firstmed would like to highlight the fact that smoking also greatly enhances the chances of impotence in men.

Recent studies have show that smoking increases the risk of erectile dysfunction by around 50% for men in their 30s and 40s. It is estimated that up to 120,000 UK men in their 30s and 40s are impotent as a direct consequence of smoking. This figure is likely to be an underestimate, because it does not include ED due to previous smoking in men who no longer smoke.

Along with erectile dysfunction, smoking can also lead to a reduction in the volume of ejaculate, a reduced number of sperm, abnormally shaped sperm and a reduction in the response to any fertility treatments undergone.

Cigarette smoke contains more than 4000 chemicals and many of these have been implicated as a cause of disease to the vascular (blood) system. With regards to the penis this directly impacts on the arteries and veins that supply blood to the penis.

Erection problems in smokers may be an early warning signal that cigarettes are already damaging other areas of the body - such as the blood vessels that supply the heart.

So there you have it. Men beware. The days when smoking was considered ‘sexy’ are surely numbered. Smoking is spoiling the romance, not only by giving your clothes, hair and breath that unmistakable pungent odour but worse, by taking the lead out of your pencil.