When you can’t achieve or maintain an erection, your body’s sending you a sign that something’s wrong. While it could be an emotional issue — stress and depression often lead to erectile dysfunction (ED) — you may also have physical problems that you need to address.
When you were younger and healthier, erections may have seemed simple. You saw, thought of, or felt something sexy, and the erection occurred all on its own.
Now it takes effort. And the effort often fails.
At Aesthetics, by Dr. Lee in Granite Bay, California, Dr. Luis Lee, gets to the root of your ED problem. If mental health and emotions are part of the difficulty, he refers you to a counselor. If the problem’s strictly physical, he recommends a number of therapies. One may be bone marrow aspiration (BMA).
Here’s how BMA works to treat ED.
Those simple erections that just took care of themselves were always more complex than they seemed. Many different organs and systems are involved in creating and maintaining an erection.
The first stop is your brain. That’s where your eyes and other senses, or even your memory, send the message that you’ve encountered sexually arousing stimuli. Sometimes, the stimulation comes from a surge in the hormone testosterone, such as that which occurs in the morning.
After receiving the stimuli, your brain sends signals through other nerves to your penis. These signals tell the specialized tissue in your penis (i.e., the corpus cavernosa) to relax.
When the corpus cavernosa relaxes, blood rushes in and engorges the tissue, like water filling a sponge. To keep the blood inside and the penis engorged, your blood vessels shut a series of valves.
A membrane that surrounds the corpus cavernosa, known as the tunica albuginea, also helps to trap the blood in the penis. All of those tissues have to maintain tone and be healthy for an erection to last.
Sometimes your erection fails because you’re not in the moment. Maybe you’re stressed at work. Maybe the relationship isn’t satisfying. Or your partner doesn’t arouse you.
But when you don’t have psychological or physical stressors, one of the many nerves and tissues that go into making an erection have failed. That’s why ED is more common as you age; older blood vessels and tissues aren’t as responsive, flexible, or strong enough for a satisfying erection.
In addition, as you age, your testosterone levels fall. Low testosterone dampens your libido, making it harder to achieve or maintain an erection. If your erections fail, adjusting your testosterone level or rebuilding tissues can help. That’s where BMA comes in.
Inside the marrow of your bones are a special type of cell called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The MSCs are undifferentiated, which means that they’re essentially blank slates: They can become many other types of cells.
The MSCs are also rich with growth factors that help your body repair and rebuild. And they contain cytokines that help subdue inflammation in damaged cells.
We may use autologous BMA, which we take from your bone marrow. We insert a needle into a bone (usually in your hip) and extract some of the marrow. We then process this aspirate and distill it to create a serum that has a high concentration of MSCs and growth factors.
We inject the serum directly into your penile tissues. The MSCs are then able to incorporate themselves into the architecture of your corpus cavernosa. Another type of cell in your BMA — circulating endothelial progenitor cells — helps strengthen weakened blood vessels and valves.
You may need more than one injection before you start to see a significant improvement. Although some men may feel a difference shortly after their procedure, your body takes weeks to months to rebuild faulty tissues. You may also benefit from follow-ups every year or so.
In addition to BMA and other therapies, you can make lifestyle changes that may help your erections. Once BMA rebuilds your penile tissues, you can help the effects if you:
You don’t have to accept ED as a consequence of aging or a medical condition. Find out how to rebuild the village that keeps your erections strong by booking a BMA consultation today. Call us at 916-888-8988 or send us a message online.
We serve the California communities of Granite Bay, Rocklin, Citrus Heights, Folsom, Lincoln, and the greater Sacramento area.
