If You Get Your Prostate Removed Can You Still Ejaculate

Open Or Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy

Kegels to improve male sexual function after prostate removal

In the more traditional approach to prostatectomy, called anopen prostatectomy, the surgeon operates through a single long skin incision to remove the prostate and nearby tissues. This type of surgery is done less often than in the past.

In a laparoscopic prostatectomy, the surgeon makes several smaller incisions and uses special long surgical tools to remove the prostate. The surgeon either holds the tools directly, or uses a control panel to precisely move robotic arms that hold the tools. This approach to prostatectomy has become more common in recent years. If done by experienced surgeons, the laparoscopic radical prostatectomy can give results similar to the open approach.

How Does Prostate Surgery Affect You Sexually

If you are diagnosed with prostate cancer and opt for a prostatectomy, particularly a radical prostatectomy, the surgeons will have removed your prostate.

While the prostate isnt directly responsible for your libido or sexual sensation, in some men who have had a prostatectomy, there can be damage to nerves or blood vessels.

The prostate is next to a dense group of nerves and the seminal vesicles .

There is a heightened chance of an infection such as spermatocystitis which can cause you pain or in some cases impotence.

Even with less invasive surgeries, the most common complaint or side effect tends to be sexual in nature.

However, according to systematic reviews and meta-analysis of the scientific data, these cases of sexual dysfunction are often associated with psychological factors that might be present before surgery or as a result of stress related to the surgical procedure.

Radiation therapy can impact the pelvic floor muscles and nerves that control erections and provide pleasure.

According to a 2016 study, around half of Prostate Cancer patients who have any form of radiation therapy go on to develop erectile dysfunction.

For a large section of men who opt for radiation-based therapies, the first stage is usually hormone therapy.

That means a drug like Lupron which inhibits or completely stops the production of Testosterone, the hormone most responsible for mens sex drive.

Getting Treatment And Support

Speak to your GP or doctor or nurse at the hospital.

Your GP, hospital doctor or nurse can prescribe treatment for erection problems for free on the NHS, whether it’s for sex or masturbation. There may be a limit on how much treatment they can prescribe, but there is no age limit.

Talking about sex

It can be difficult talking about sex, but talking to your doctor, nurse or other health professional will mean you can get treatment and support. It can also help you feel more positive and more in control.

You can ask about sexual problems at any stage – before, during or after your prostate cancer treatment. Talking about it before your treatment will mean you know what to expect and can help you to prepare to start treatments for sexual problems soon afterwards.

Your team should ask you about your erections and sex life during your treatment for prostate cancer. But if they don’t then you may need to bring it up yourself.

Not everyone is used to talking about sex. You might need to bring it up more than once, or with a different person in your team. You can also ask to be referred to an expert in sexual problems or an ED clinic – they will be used to talking about sexual problems.

Our sexual support service

How Long Does Erectile Dysfunction Last After Prostate Surgery

Studies show that roughly 2590% of patients who get a radical prostatectomy experience ED after prostate surgery.

So, how long does erectile dysfunction recovery take? In patients who do recover, the typical recovery process for getting erections adequate for penetration is 6-12 months. Some patients need more time than that. To restore sexual potency, men should also do Kegels regularly.

Think of the impaired erection process as an injury. Just like any other injury, it needs time to heal.

Remember that this is an ongoing battle. Recovery can take months to even years. Proper medical treatment and conditioning might help you heal faster, but there is no guarantee.

Great Sex And Orgasms After Prostate Cancer

How Do You Know Prostate Cancer Has Spread

Meet Paul and Ashley. Paul and Ashley have an active sex life. They are taking the time to get to know each others bodies and pleasures as well as their own. They are trying new ways of being intimate and using toys. They are having fun and growing closer as a couple.

Paul is not alone. Almost 60% of men who have prostate surgery have erectile dysfunction 18 months later.1 These men are often surprised by their impairments, uncertain about what to expect during recovery/rehabilitation, and not sure what to do to help themselves. As a pelvic floor physical therapist, I see many men after prostatectomy, and I may be the only one to ask them about their sex life and make suggestions and referrals. .

Desire is most often still present after prostatectomy. It can be affected by things such as anxiety about your overall health, pain, or hormone treatments.

Practice. Practice. Practice. Use it or lose it.

Erection does not equal sexual satisfaction

How pelvic floor physical therapy can help post-prostatectomy

Check out these other great websites on intimacy and cancer, and seek out professionals in your area:

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References:

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How Long Does It Take For Nerves To Heal After Prostatectomy

How long does nerve regeneration take? Recovery of potency may be very rapid in younger patients and is sometimes immediate. However, for most patients the recovery is gradual and can take up to 3 years to plateau, although typically a patient sees a return to erectile function after about 12 months .

Can I Have Sex During Treatment

There are a few factors that determine if sexual activity is safe during treatment.

In general, sexual activity is fine during treatment as interest, energy, and comfort levels allow. While you may not feel up to sexual intimacy after surgeries or during chemotherapy and radiation hugging, kissing, holding hands, and massages may feel good and be comforting.
If you had surgery involving the pelvic area , you may need to allow extra time for healing before having sex that involves penile stimulation or vaginal or rectal penetration . If you are being treated for oral cancer, use caution during oral sex.
If you have mouth sores , you should not perform oral sex.
Do not have vaginal intercourse if you have open sores on your genitals.
If you received brachytherapy for prostate cancer , be sure to follow your oncology teamâs guidance about limiting close physical contact to avoid exposing your partner to radiation.

What Is Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer develops in the prostatea small gland that makes seminal fluid. It is the second most common type of cancer in men. Prostate cancer usually grows over time and in the beginning stays within the prostate gland, where it may not cause serious harm. While some types of prostate cancer grow slowly and may need minimal or no treatment, other types are aggressive and can spread quickly.

Prostate cancer that is caught early has a better chance of successful treatment.

How Long Must I Wait After Treatment To Try To Father A Child

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The length of time you need to wait depends on your diagnosis and the treatment you received. If you have had chemotherapy or radiation, we generally suggest waiting at least 1 year after treatment is finished before trying to have a child. This allows time for sperm that may have been damaged from treatment to be cleared from your body. However, some people may not need to wait this long, while others may need to wait longer. Check with your healthcare provider to find out how long they recommend you wait.

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After Prostate Surgery Some Men Leak During Sex

By Adam Marcus, Reuters Health

4 Min Read

NEW YORK – Incontinence during sex is a long-lasting problem for roughly one in eight men whove had their prostate removed due to cancer, a study of more than 1,400 patients has found.

Although the urine leakage resolved for some men over time, 36 percent of them still had the problem — called climacturia — two years after surgery. And 12 percent of the men called it a major bother.

According to the American Cancer Society, one in six men gets prostate cancer at some point in his life, and one in 36 will die from the disease.

While there is controversy over how to treat low-risk tumors, some of which may never cause any harm if left untreated, surgery and radiation are common options when the disease is more advanced.

This year, about 90,000 men will undergo radical prostatectomy, a procedure in which the entire prostate is removed. They face common side effects such as impotence and incontinence during routine activities, and urologists have recently learned that some may also leak urine during sex.

I think that its something that is under-appreciated, because if you look through all the discussion, everything is always about erectile dysfunction after prostate surgery, Dr. Herbert Lepor, a urologist at New York University, told Reuters Health.

We overlook some of the other issues that are relevant to overall sexual function, added Lepor, who led the new study.

RESEARCHERS SURPRISED

What You Can Do Now

Sexual side effects from prostate cancer treatment are often temporary, especially if your doctor used nerve-sparing surgery. While your body recovers, you can try a few things to maintain your sex life:

Let your doctor know about any sexual problems youre having right away. Although it can be hard to talk about sex, being open and honest will help you get the treatment you need.
See a therapist. Couples therapy can help you and your partner understand and deal with sexual issues.
Take care of yourself by exercising, eating a well-balanced diet, reducing stress, and getting enough sleep. Looking and feeling your best will give your self-esteem and mood a boost.

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The Importance Of Quality Of Life

Its only normal to want to drive into the practicalities. Before you go any further, I want you to understand a key metric, which is particularly challenging to standardize.

Its called Quality of Life, usually shortened to QoL in the medical literature.

With Prostate Cancer, its a particularly important one, due to the high rates of survival for those with localized prostate cancer .

Thats why its so important to understand the impact that various surgeries or treatments will have on you.

Quality of Life is how they assess the suitability of any treatment.

Those sort of difficult questions is why QoL is a factor. If youre a sexually active man in your sixties or seventies and they are offering you preventative surgery after a biopsy, you need to ask yourself about the impact it will have, what alternatives are available to treat prostate cancer.

Furthermore, you should always ask what the quality of life after that surgery or treatment will be like.

Thats why we put together this quick guide to erectile function, mens health and sex after prostate surgery.

Its not exhaustive by any means, but should certainly give you a jumping off point to better make these decisions that will have a serious impact on a really key aspect of your life.

One last note before we get into it. If the cancer is malignant, surgeons will always push you for a radical prostatectomy, to prevent the cancer from spreading to your lymph nodes.

What Are Pelvic Floor Exercises And Can Improve Erection Quality

As we age, we lose muscle tone throughout your body. That includes the muscles that men need to maintain erections. However, there are physical exercises men can do to reduce erectile dysfunction. The best ones are known as pelvic floor exercises or kegels.

Those muscles are the core of how your body and therefore keeps erections strong.

The process starts with identifying the muscles you need to activate. Thats best achieved by lying down with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Thats when you breathe out and squeeze your pelvic floor muscles for 3 seconds.

Its important that you identify the right group, at the base of your buttocks, on either side of your perineum. It can be easy to mistake other muscles, such as the legs or stomach for the pelvic floor.

Once you are confident you have the right muscle group, then doing the exercises in a seated or standing position three times a day can firm and strengthen the muscles, with a likely improvement within four to six weeks.

Some men find that after the initial strengthening that options like Pilates become appealing as not only are there many exercises which improve the pelvic floor, but they can improve overall posture and strength.

What The Research Says

Steps to reduce cancer risk often include a lot of things you shouldnt do. So, it may be welcoming news to learn that something many men find pleasurable may help reduce your risk of prostate cancer.

A 2008 determined that men were more likely to develop prostate cancer if they were very sexually active in their twenties and thirties. The study also found no conclusive evidence that masturbation provide greater risk than intercourse.

Prostate cancer is the second most common kind of cancer men get. Skin cancer is the most common cancer. In the United States, one in seven men will get prostate cancer at some point in their life.

The following factors affect your risk of getting prostate cancer:

age: men over the age of 50 are at greater risk for prostate cancer
race: prostate cancer is more common among African American men
genetics: your risk is greater is a close relative has a history of prostate cancer
weight: obesity may increase your risk of getting more advanced prostate cancer
activity level: physical inactivity has been shown to increase risk in some men
diet: a diet high in animal and dairy fat and low in fiber, fruits, and vegetables may increase your risk
height: tall men may be more likely to develop prostate cancer
chemical exposure: exposure to Agent Orange increases your risk for developing prostate cancer, according the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

that a healthy diet and lifestyle may provide some protection. Steps you can take include:

Will A Child Conceived After My Cancer Treatment Be Healthy

There is no evidence that children conceived after cancer treatment are at an increased risk for birth defects or other health problems. However, its important to use birth control during treatment to ensure you dont conceive with sperm that may have been damaged from exposure to chemotherapy or radiation. This damage might affect the health of the child. We also recommend that you use birth control for 1 year after completing chemotherapy and radiation therapy to ensure all damaged sperm have been cleared from your body.

Some cancers are hereditary, or passed down from parents to children. Ask your doctor or nurse if you have a hereditary cancer. If you do, you can meet with a genetics counselor to learn how this may affect the health of a child.

If you have a specific genetic mutation that can be passed on to a child, you may want to consider preimplantation genetic testing . PGT is a method of testing embryos that have been created by in vitro fertilization for the mutation you have. If you want, you can then choose only those embryos that dont have the genetic mutation when youre ready to attempt pregnancy.

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Habits And Lifestyle Changes

Your healthcare provider may recommend making certain changes to your habits and lifestyle to promote blood flow and improve your erectile health. These may include:

Treating any underlying health issues
Changing your eating habits to maintain a healthy weight
Exercising regularly to improve your cardiovascular health
If you smoke, quitting smoking and nicotine products
Limiting your consumption of alcohol

Weve talked more about the effects of good habits and lifestyle changes on ED in our guide to naturally protecting your erection.

Although these changes are unlikely to treat prostatectomy-related erectile dysfunction on their own, they can contribute to an increase in blood flow, better overall health and improved sexual function.

What Is A Radical Prostatectomy

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Surgery to remove the prostate to treat prostate cancer is called a radical prostatectomy. The aim of surgery is to remove all of the cancer cells.

It is usually done when the cancer is contained in the prostate and has not spread to the surrounding area.

A prostatectomy may sometimes be done to treat locally advanced prostate cancer. But usually, this operation is not possible. This is because the surgeon would not be able to remove all the cancer cells that have spread outside the prostate. Other types of surgery, such as transurethral resection of the prostate , can help with the symptoms of locally advanced prostate cancer.

A prostatectomy is a big operation and may not be suitable for everyone. Your doctor can tell you whether it is suitable or if a different treatment may be best for you.

Coping With Infertility After Prostate Surgery

The prostate is one of the only organs in a males body that never stops growing. This growth is slow and continual throughout your life and many doctors dont fully understand why it happens. In some instances, the prostate grows larger than your body can accommodate, and the result is benign prostatic hyperplasia or enlarged prostate. While this isnt life threatening, it can lead to an array of uncomfortable symptoms. There are treatment options for benign prostatic hyperplasia, with the most invasive being surgery. Some men will also develop prostate cancer during their lives. While prostate cancer has one of the highest curability rates, it needs to be diagnosed early so that surgery can eradicate the cancer completely. Regardless of why you need prostate surgery, certain instances can lead to problems such as infertility. In this article, well explore everything you need to know about the prostate and how to cope with infertility after prostate surgery.