The world of sexual activity is full of myths and legends, one of the more common being the early claims that erectile dysfunction drugs acted like a condom. This always was a triumph of wishful thinking over reality. There’s no way a drug designed to dilate arteries can act like a physical barrier to prevent either the transmission of disease or pregnancy as the outcome. If you want “safe sex” in all senses of the words, you have to use a condom. Yet there are a surprising number of men who either never got into the habit when young or now find the idea of “natural” sex more appealing. This despite the continuing threat of HIV infection among both the heterosexual and homosexual communities. Well, unlike learning to drive a car, no one needs a license to enjoy sex. So long as you have passed the minimum age barrier, you are free to catch as many diseases as you wish.
Except, when erectile dysfunction starts to appear this can make the use of a condom challenging. Actually putting the condom on while less than fully erect is reasonably easy. But keeping it on if the erection does not stay hard is difficult. Once penetration has been achieved, it’s quite easy to leave the condom behind which is, to say the least, embarrassing. Worse, it can immediately expose the penis to natural body fluids and result in the transmission of disease or an unwanted pregnancy.
A manufacturer has identified this as a market opportunity and has produced a condom filled with a gel designed to work in the same way as the erectile dysfunction drugs. The advertising claims the wearer will keep the condom on and will enjoy a harder erection for longer. The gel is chemically different from the three erectile dysfunction drugs, but achieves the same result of dilating the penile artery. It’s derived from a drug used to treat angina, a heart condition caused by constriction in the blood vessels passing through the chest and lungs.
This is quite an interesting idea because it may encourage more men to continue using condoms. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence of clinical trials to justify the claims of effectiveness. We would all have more faith in the product if there were formal comparisons between the gel and the pills. As it is, we’re left to speculate on how effective and safe this gel is. Remember, this is not just something that might affect the men involved. Before, during and after condom use, the gel may pass to the woman – without there being any tests to find out whether this is safe for women, including pregnant women. So far, there’s no word of any application being made to the FDA for the use of the gel in this way. For the time being this means the condom cannot be sold over the counter here.
Cialis and the other oral drugs are available in different forms but they all focus on the man. There’s no way a woman could accidentally be exposed to the active ingredients. This is the safer system and may lead to regulators refusing permission for the condoms to be offered for sale. No matter, this leaves Cialis as the drug of choice with its untouched track record for effectiveness.