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Sexual health is a difficult topic to broach, but a third of all men could probably speak about it from experience.
Far more common than many realize, erectile dysfunction, or ED, will derail the sex lives of more than half of all men at some point in their lives and stands as the sexual problem that is most often reported by men to their doctors.
It is a problem that occurs progressively as men age but is even more common in men suffering from hypertension, peripheral vascular disease and cardiovascular disease; in those who smoke or used to smoke; and as a result of prescription or illicit drugs.
Many causes may underlie the diagnosis of erectile dysfunction. Among the most common are vascular disease, hormonal imbalances and prostate cancer. In many men, several factors may be at play, and all must be addressed for best results.
Unfortunately, most men have a tough time talking about this problem and frequently suffer in silence or at most discuss it with their primary care physician. But most primary care physicians do not have the time and state-of-the-art “know how” to fully evaluate and treat the patient to achieve optimal results. As a result, most men are given a prescription for pills such as VIAGRA® without so much as a discussion or explanation of how to take the pill correctly.
Jeremy*, 56, was treated in such a fashion after he explained to his general practitioner last spring that he was having difficulty achieving and maintaining an erection. The medication the doctor prescribed had little or no effect.
After trying the pills for nearly six months, Jeremy sought help from a men’s sexual health specialist he found during an internet search: Boris Havkin, MD, a board-certified urologist and the founder of Havkin Urology in Melbourne.
“I see this a lot,” Dr. Havkin reports. “Patients treated indiscriminately without truly investigating their underlying causes, which can be vascular dysfunction or a hormonal deficiency such as low testosterone, etc., thus they fail to respond.
“That’s what happened with Jeremy, whom I examined thoroughly and found to be suffering from penile arterial insufficiency, specifically a disease of the blood vessels of the penis.”
Jeremy was not alone. Dr. Havkin says the primary cause of erectile dysfunction – affecting 80 to 90 percent of sufferers – is vascular disease. The second most common cause is a hormone imbalance such as low testosterone or excessive estrogen levels. In a fair number of patients, both if not more factors can be the culprit.
In response to his findings, Dr. Havkin tailored a treatment to address Jeremy’s vascular disease. The treatment he chose is called GAINSWave® therapy, which is regenerative in nature.
Dr. Havkin, who is a certified provider of GAINSWave therapy, emphasizes that although many treatments may be effective, only few reverse the underlying cause as opposed to covering up the cause like a band-aid, as is the case with pills.
GAINSWave is a nonsurgical, drug-free treatment that uses pulses of low-intensity acoustic waves to repair damaged blood vessels while also stimulating the growth of new blood vessels.
Referred to clinically as low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy, or LiESWT, the GAINSWave breaks up the plaque and calcium that have built up inside old or damaged blood vessels, while stimulating production of growth factors and stem cells, thus leading to repair of the damaged vessels.
The result is an increase in blood flow, which improves the quality of the erection and sensitivity of the penis.
GAINSWave treatments can also be used to treat Peyronie’s disease, which occurs when scar tissue builds up in the penis and causes an abnormal bend of the penis as well as pain with erection.
Each noninvasive GAINSWave treatment lasts about 30 minutes, is performed in the doctor’s office and is completely painless. This technology has been used in Europe and Israel without any detrimental side effects for 15 years, indicating complete safety. Patients typically receive treatments once or twice a week for six to 12 weeks.
Reversing the Root Cause
“As a fully trained men’s sexual health specialist and urologic surgeon, I am prepared to administer any and all available treatments for erectile dysfunction, from oral medications to vacuum pump therapy to teaching the patients how to do penile injections and even performing corrective surgery, including all forms of implants,”
Dr. Havkin explains.
“However, I am especially excited to be able to offer treatment options that can result in a reversal of the underlying factors leading to the problem. That’s what GAINSWave does.
“Treatments such as pills and injections will help a large number of patients achieve erections when necessary, but they don’t reverse the underlying root cause and stop the progression of that cause.
“That’s why a large number of patients who initially respond to oral medications, for example, will eventually stop responding, because the underlying cause has not been treated and reversed.
“GAINSWave will not only reverse those underlying causes, but it will optimize the patient’s penile health. And it does this without producing any known side effects and without causing the patient any downtime following the procedure.”
GAINSWave is not the only tool available in the quest for regenerating sexual health. Advanced techniques such as the Priapus Shot® (P-Shot), injections of amniotic fluid and even stem cell therapy are other highly effective options.
“Based on research,” Dr. Havkin says, “it was proved that by combining GAINSWave therapy with the Priapus Shot – an injection of platelet rich plasma (PRP) derived from the patient’s own blood – further sexual improvement can be realized.
“The combination of these therapies improves not only erectile function, but also sexual performance, sensitivity and the quality of the orgasm,” Dr. Havkin notes. “All of that leads to a far more satisfactory sexual experience.”
Dr. Havkin, who is a certified provider of the P-Shot, can also deliver that therapy as a stand-alone treatment, and in particularly difficult cases, he can utilize treatments that include stem cells.
“Each patient is treated as an individual, with treatments tailored to specific needs,” Dr. Havkin says. “For example, with patients who are suffering from a hormonal imbalance, we can administer hormonal replacement therapy that will further improve patients’ responses.
“Hormone replacement therapy is where the patient is given hormones that are biochemically identical to the ones they produce in their body but no longer produce in sufficient quantities.
“This kind of therapy requires thorough testing and careful adjustments and monitoring, and can be delivered through advanced methods, one of which is testosterone pellets.”
Jeremy began receiving GAINSWave treatments in December. Within a month, he noted definitive improvement and was able to achieve and maintain an erection without pills.
“I was getting nowhere with the pills, which is why I sought out Dr. Havkin in the first place,” Jeremy says. “I figured there had to be something out there that would take care of this problem, and GAINSWave was my solution.
“It’s an easy, painless treatment that you have done right there in the doctor’s office, and I love the fact that there’s no side effects or downtime associated with it. It’s made me feel like a new man, which is why I recommend not only GAINSWave, but also Dr. Havkin.
“He’s no ordinary doctor. He’s truly a specialist in this field and is very thorough. He takes every step necessary to learn exactly what’s behind the problem and then he offers you a solution that works. I recommend him to anybody.”
* Patient’s name withheld at his request
