Does an enlarged prostate affect a man sexually?

Enlarged prostate, or BPH, is one of the most common urological conditions that a man can encounter as he gets older. Statistics show that 50% of men over the age of 50 will have BPH, then 60% over 60, and so forth, increasing by 10% with every decade of life.

As men get BPH, they will often start noticing some significant disturbances in their urine flow like a weakened or straining to urinate, waking up at night to urinate, and increase in urinary frequency and urgency. But do these disturbances in urine flow affect their sexual function? Most of the time, they do not lead to sexual dysfunction.

While there are relationships between BPH and erectile dysfunction, in general, these relationships are due to patients with BPH who may have other numerous medical conditions that are also associated with erectile dysfunction like hypertension, lipid abnormalities, diabetes, heart disease, etc.

However, some of the therapies that we offer for BPH, including pills and surgeries, have significant sexual dysfunction side effects including erectile dysfunction and ejaculatory dysfunction. Furthermore, medications used for the management of enlarged prostates may lead to sexual dysfunction, which may be problematic for patients who are still sexually active.