GP warning over staggering rise in erectile problems in young men - and common habit is to blame
Watching pornography is driving a wave of erectile dysfunction problems in young men, a GP has warned.
Dr Babak Ashrafi, a family medic with Superdrug Online Doctor, said there had been an 46 per cent increase in men under the age of 30 currently seeking help from its erectile dysfunction service compared to last year.
Also called impotency or shortened to ED, erectile dysfunction is a condition where men can't get or keep an erection and is classically more common in older groups.
But Dr Babak said a spike in younger men experiencing the problem could be linked to the 'exponential' consumption of explicit online material.
'Despite men between the ages of 45-54 years old being the most likely to suffer from erectile difficulties, younger male audiences are increasingly requesting treatment,' he said.
Dr Babak explained that while occasional pornography viewing was harmless, frequent or marathon sessions could re-train men's brains and prevent them become aroused normally.
'Repeated overexposure to graphic content can over time make it harder for individuals to become aroused by real-life sexual experiences,' he said.
The family doctor added that porn could be giving men to unrealistic perceptions about their manhood, or how long they should last in bed.
This, he explained, could result in men agonising about their personal bedroom performance, a known trigger of erectile dysfunction.
'The unrealistic depictions of sexual encounters featured in porn can lead to pressure and stress about performance and longevity, resulting in ED,' Dr Babak said.
And with access to a colossal catalogue of adult content just a few taps away on their phones, the medic warned accessing porn has never been easier.
Other experts have previously warned modern masturbation practices could be setting men up for impotency far earlier than is typical.
Earlier this year, experts told MailOnline that a new rapidly growing fetish called ' gooning ' could lead to impotency and pornography addiction.
Gooning sees men undertake 'marathon' self-pleasure sessions of up to seven hours while delaying orgasm.
Dr Richard Viney, a consultant urological surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, warned overuse of pornography for arousal could have real world consequences.
'A man can find he needs pornography to get aroused rather than on the presence and touch of his partner,' he said.
Excessive use of online adult content can also lead to a little-known condition called porn addiction.
Experts say this most commonly occurs in people using pornography as an escape, such as from stress or depression.
Research suggests that as many as one in 20 Britons have problematic porn usage, meaning their habit is having a wider negative impact on their life.
Experts caution however that estimates of how many people might be living with a porn addiction are inherently unreliable.
Many sufferers avoid seeking professional help due to shame and embarrassment of their affliction or fear of exposure.
Such feelings can also contribute to men not seeking help for erectile dysfunction.
The condition is thought to effect about half of men over 40.
While most cases are isolated and nothing to worry about, repeated or sustained impotency should be checked out by a GP.
This is not only because it can usually easily be treated through medications like Viagra but because ED can also be a potential indicator of serious health problems.
These include issues like high blood pressure or high cholesterol, diabetes, hormone imbalances and mental health issues like depression and anxiety.
Drugs like sildenafil, generic name for Viagra, can be used as well as therapy if the impotency is being caused by a mental health problem.
Millions of British men now take drugs to help impotency.
The latest NHS backed data shows nearly 5million prescriptions for such medications were handed out by GPs in England in 2024, at the cost of £15.5million.
This data doesn't cover over the counter purchases, with many high street pharmacies, as well as online shops, now selling their own brand versions.
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