Viagra not always the best option for ED

Can you believe that Pfizer has spent over $100 million dollars to gain its 75% share of America's $2 billion erectile dysfunction (ED) market? That is a lot of money to burn on advertisements alone. The sad reality is that with too much advertising, the recipients of the message actually start believing some of the things that the companies tell them.

So Viagra has become not only a source of many jokes but also a noun and verb for some people. However, Viagra may not always be the best and the only solution for erecticle dysfunction (ED), according to The Geddings & Bessie Osbon Institute, an Augusta, Georgia based non-profit foundation. The organization recently surveyed 185 physicians and asked which ED treatment they considered the least invasive of all the treatment options available to men with the condition. In medical terms "invasive" treatments are those that impact the internal workings of the body, the treatment literally "invades" the body. While a cure is desirable, side effects are not, which is why physicians should attempt the "least invasive" treatment option first.

In the survey, 73% of the physicians surveyed listed "Oral Drugs" as the least invasive treatment for ED. Only 3% listed Psychotherapy and Vacuum Therapy as the right choices. Psychotherapy involves counseling and serves only those with psychosis. Vacuum therapy controls the condition in less than two minutes for the majority of cases which are organic in origin -- without introducing anything into the body.

"Vacuum therapy is the least invasive treatment for ED," said Mark Newell, Executive Director of the Institute, "but the advertising campaigns for Viagra, Levitra and Cialis have had a tremendous impact on the thinking of physicians and the public. It is an example of how drug company business can override the physician's Hippocratic Oath, which commands that practitioners first consider the least invasive treatment for a patient before using measures that have negative side-effects."

According to AUA guidelines, physicians should recommend vacuum therapy as the first choice therapy for patients with ED. The treatment uses a vacuum device to produce results in 90 seconds with no side effects or after effects when used as directed. Oral drugs, by comparison, can take hours to work. Some have side effects which caused many users to not refill their prescriptions. In addition to that Vioxx has been linked to sudden blindness in men, and while the FDA is investigating this linkage, there have been calls for a recall of Viagra.

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