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HORMONAL CONTRACEPTIVE
The most effective way would be to develop a drug which prevented the sperms from being formed. Unfortunately, the problem is far more complex than that which led to the development of the hormonal contraceptive pill used by women. A woman produces only one ovum in each menstrual cycle, and ovulation can be suppressed fairly easily, using hormones. In contrast, a man ejaculates several hundred million spermatozoa each time he has an orgasm, and these spermatozoa are eighty days old when they are ejaculated. This means that a male contraceptive pill has to stop all sperm formation and it would not be effective until all the sperms already formed had been ejaculated.
Currently several drugs are under investigation to achieve this objective. The first of these is to use a long-acting, powerful gestagen (a synthetic form of the female sex hormone, progesterone). This hormone effectively prevents spermatozoa from being formed, but usually reduces the man’s libido to an unacceptably low level. In order to overcome this problem, the gestagen, medroxyprogesterone acetate, is being given together with injections of a long-acting testosterone. The clinical trials with this combination suggest that the drugs effectively suppress sperm formation, without any loss of libido, but a good deal of work is needed before the combination will be generally available, and even then the combination may be unacceptable to most men because of the need for injections every 10 to 14 days.
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Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction Erectile Dysfunction, Men’s HealthLeave a Reply
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