12 Proven ED Treatments: What Actually Works
In this article, I’ll share with you 12 proven treatment options for erectile dysfunction, so you can have a more educated discussion with your doctor or urologist and choose which treatment option is going to be best for you.
Hey, I’m Phoenix Blake, sex coach and educator and I’ve personally suffered with erectile dysfunction. And while I use mostly natural ways to improve my erections, these treatment options are effective and do work for a lot of guys.
This article is for general educational purposes only and should not be considered personal medical advice. Always speak to a doctor or a specialist before taking any erectile dysfunction treatments.
1. Oral Medication
You’ve got oral medication like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, which are known as PDE5 inhibitors.
When you get an erection, your blood vessels dilate and this allows blood to flow into your penis. But at the same time, your body creates something called phosphodiesterase 5 or PDE5, which breaks down cGMP (the molecule nitric oxide uses to relax your blood vessels) and causes your blood vessels to contract, which then causes your erection to subside.
Pills like Viagra and Cialis inhibit the production of PDE5. So your blood vessels can more easily stay dilated and stay dilated for longer, helping you maintain that strong hard erection.
However, these pills don’t work for everyone and you still need arousal and you need to be able to get an erection first for these pills to be effective.
Supplements can help to make getting an erection easier. Go to passionately.com/ed and get access to the free ED toolkit, where I share some of the best supplements that I take for healthy hard erections.
Since taking just one of these supplements, I’ve noticed myself effortlessly getting erections like I did when I was younger.
2. Penile Injections
Penile injections are another treatment option for erectile dysfunction, often called Trimix, as it’s a mix of three medications.
A small needle is inserted into the base of your penis. This will then dilate the blood vessels in the area inducing an erection that can last for hours and even last whether you’re aroused or not and whether or not you’ve had an orgasm.
Getting the dosage right is extremely important, so you don’t end up with a priapism or a prolonged erection that lasts more than four hours, which can cause significant health issues. You’ll need to work with a specialist to get the dosage that’s right for you.
3. Penile Implants
This probably isn’t what you’re thinking of. No, it’s not an implant to make your penis bigger. It’s an implant to give you an erection when you want.
Inside your penis, you have two tubes filled with smooth muscle called the corpora cavernosa. When you get an erection, these areas fill up with blood, which creates pressure, which creates the erection, much like filling up a balloon.
A penile implant places two tubes of saline in these spots, which you can then manually inflate or deflate using a pump that’s located in the scrotum.
It sounds extreme, but this treatment option has been around since the 1950s, has a high success rate, and isn’t visible from the outside. So she’s not going to know by looking at you whether or not you’ve had a penile implant.
Obviously, surgery is needed for a penile implant, and you can go ahead and watch this video if you want to see how they actually work.
4. Talk To A Therapist Or Sexologist
A lot of erectile dysfunction is caused by issues of the mind, not of the body. This means that your plumbing is working just fine, but you’ve got issues with anxiety or with worry when it comes to sex.
If you’re able to get an erection when you’re by yourself masturbating and looking at porn, but you struggle to get an erection with a partner or in certain situations, then chances are you have what’s known as performance anxiety or psychogenic ED.
Talking to a registered therapist or sexologist can be a great way to overcome any mental blockages holding you back, and it works for a lot of guys to help them overcome performance anxiety and get erections when they need it most.
5. Lifestyle Modification
Hands down, one of the best ways to improve your erections is through lifestyle modification. Things like stress, smoking, being overweight, poor diet, and lack of exercise can all be major contributors to erectile dysfunction.
I was recently talking to a guy at the gym, and he was saying six months ago before he started working out, he was really struggling to get it up, but now that he’s been working out on a regular basis, going to the sauna, reduced the stress in his life, he’s finding his erections have come back much stronger.
Anything that’s going to improve your overall cardiovascular health is also going to improve your erections.
Depending on your health and how sedentary you are will depend on what level you want to do, but even things as simple as walking, swimming, or visiting the sauna can improve cardiovascular health and erectile function, as well as sleeping well, reducing stress, and drinking lots of water.
And if you’re fitter like I am, then resistance training is a great idea because not only does it improve your cardiovascular health and erections, but it also boosts your testosterone, which further helps with erections.
For some of the best exercises that you can do specifically to improve erectile dysfunction, don’t forget to grab your copy of the free ED toolkit by going to passionately.com/ed.
In there, I share targeted exercises to help to increase blood flow into the region and how to keep the blood in there so your erections stay around and stay harder for longer.
6. Penis Constriction Bands
If you find that you can get an erection but you’re losing it rather quickly, then penis constriction bands, also known as cock rings, could be a good treatment option.
These go around the base of your penis and constrict the veins to stop blood flowing out of your penis so your erection can stay around for longer. They come in a variety of sizes and you can even get vibrating ones that feel good for both you and your partner.
7. Penis Vacuum Pumps
Penis vacuum pumps are generally plastic tubes that you place over your penis and then pump the area using either a hand pump or a motor. This vacuum then causes blood to flow into the penis to increase blood flow and induce an erection.
This can help you to create an erection when you want it but it can also help blood to flow into the area and to use those smooth muscles if you’re not naturally getting those nocturnal erections or waking up with morning wood.
One of the most popular brands is called Bathmate and while I haven’t used it personally, it is something that I plan on trying out in the future. Go to passionately.com/bathmate to learn more.
I may earn a small commission if you decide to purchase the Bathmate through my link.
8. EECP (Enhanced External Counter Pulsation)
A more obscure treatment option and something that I don’t really see anyone talking about is something called EECP or Enhanced External Counter Pulsation.
This is an FDA approved treatment option that uses pressure on the legs and on the buttocks and is used to help people with chronic stable angina or chest pains.
However, EECP has also been shown to improve blood flow in the pelvic region by up to 140% and improve erectile dysfunction in up to 70% of patients. It’s a non-invasive therapy that could help with your erectile dysfunction.
9. Shockwave Therapy
Shockwave therapy, also known as low-intensity shockwave therapy or Li-ESWT, is something that is gaining massively in popularity.
Shockwave therapy is used on your penis to induce micro trauma in the area, which then helps your blood vessels to grow stronger. It helps with nitric oxide synthase, which can then help improve erectile dysfunction.
Generally, the treatment takes around 20 to 30 minutes and is done one to three times a week for about six weeks.
In his interview with Peter Attia, Dr. Mohit Khera advises that you look for devices with focal shockwaves, not radial shockwaves. According to him, radial shock creates a hundred times less pressure, has a longer shock, and it has less penetration into the deeper tissues of the penis.
He suggests looking for clinics with electro-hydraulic machines or electromagnetic machines that are known as type class three machines.
10. Pelvic Floor Shockwave Therapy
Another interesting potential treatment option is pelvic floor shockwave therapy.
Millionaire Bryan Johnson spends over two million dollars per year trying to stay young and he talks about using shockwave therapy specifically on his pelvic region to contract the muscles in the area, improve blood flow and improve erections.
This seems to be different to the micro traumas created by the radial or the focal shockwave therapy on the penis and seems to be more about improving that blood flow to the pelvic floor muscles.
If you don’t have access to a machine like this, which I certainly don’t, there are exercises you can do to help improve blood flow in your pelvic region and I share that inside my ED toolkit.
So again, go to passionately.com/ed in order to get access to that.
11 & 12. Stem Cell Treatments And PRP Treatments
For these, I highly recommend listening to the interview with Dr. Mohit Khera on the Peter Attia podcast for stem cell treatment.
This is where stem cells are taken and then injected directly into the base of the penis. There’s currently no FDA approval for stem cell treatments related to erectile dysfunction and there doesn’t seem to be any placebo controlled trials for stem cell treatments for ED yet.
Dr. Mohit Khera did do a study on stem cells and it showed some benefit for about six to nine months, but then tapered off. There may be some benefit, but it’s an area to watch and one that needs more research.
For PRP treatment, there may be some benefit as well, but a lot more research needs to be done and there’s currently some studies being done combining PRP with shockwave therapy to see what those outcomes are.
Aside from these treatments, there’s also daily activities that you can do to build up stronger and harder erections over time. Go ahead and check out this video to learn the nine things that I do daily for healthy hard erections.
