According to the experts, men who have been infected with COVID-19 may likely suffer from erectile dysfunction and experience a shrinking penis months after their recovery. One man in his 30s openly spoke about this particular experience in a podcast interview.
The unnamed man sat for a podcast interview on "How to Do It" and said that he gradually experienced erectile dysfunction after getting out of the hospital for COVID-19. His doctor informed him that he might be "left with a lasting problem," alongside a shrinking penis that he believes became "an inch and a half" smaller since he got better from the virus infection.
Unfortunately, the changes in his body post-COVID are not a surprise to many doctors studying the long-term effects of the virus infection. Urologist Dr. Ashley Winter, who also sat in the podcast interview, confirmed that shrinking penis and erectile dysfunction happen to some male patients. There are multiple studies about this medical mystery affecting reproductive health.
What Doctors Have Learned
In May 2021, experts from the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami found some male patients who developed problems with their penis following their COVID-19 recovery. Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy said that the virus likely affected the blood vessels in its supply of the groin area, causing it to malfunction. At that time of their study, the experts were unsure if this was a temporary or a permanent side effect.
The men in question had been severely sick with the virus and stayed at least two weeks at the hospital. One of the patients also suffered from clogged arteries to his heart as he battled COVID-19.
The experts compared their conditions with COVID-free men who also have reproductive health issues. These patients had no traces of blood vessel damage in their groin arteries.
In Italy, experts also found evidence of erectile dysfunction among 28 percent of male COVID-19 patients during the first wave of the virus. Emmanuele A. Jannini, an expert of endocrinology and medical sexology from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, believes that the loss of oxygen affected the tissues around the penis in the same way that COVID-19 affected the lung and heart for long haulers. Jannini pointed out that like the heart and lungs, the penis is also a "vascular organ" thus, it incurred similar damages.
Other studies also indicated that the virus might have used the testicles as a reservoir, which explained why some male COVID-19 patients reported testicular pain. Additionally, since COVID-19 causes fatigue and breathing problems, men likely do not have any desire or arousal that should have pumped up more blood in the arteries in the penis.
More Studies Needed
Understandably, the experts still need to understand what COVID-19 can do to the reproductive health of male patients, given that they are finding new things about the virus every day. For now, Ramasamy and his team are working on figuring out if the impact to the testicles and penis could become dormant or it could reactivate long after the patient has been cured of the virus.
In line with this project, the National Institutes of Health has launched a program to study the effects of long-haul COVID for the next four years. The hope is that the medical community should have the needed answers for thousands of patients who have suffered from the virus.
