Dr. Jennifer Berman, chief urologic resident at the University of Maryland Medical Center, is heading up a study of the use of Viagra among women. She has this to say about Viagra's effect on women in a CNN interview:
TILLOTSON: What have you heard from the women who have
gotten this pill?
BERMAN: We have -- I have a group of women that all these
women are ages about 25 to 41. All of these women have
undergone hysterectomies within the past three to five years, and
they all have the same complaints. And these include lack of
sensation, decreased lubrication, and great difficulty, if at all, being
able to have an orgasm. And these symptoms began in coincidence
with the hysterectomy. They were normal before that. And they
have all received the medication and have had significant, positive
responses. And there's a basis or a foundation from which we
believe that the medication would work, and this is what was
referred to earlier with regard to blood flow that the medication
functions by increasing smooth muscle, being vascular smooth
muscle and nonvascular being in the female genital area relaxation.
So these women experienced an increase in blood flow, increased
clitoral and -- if I'm allowed to say that -- and labial engorgement
in addition to...
TILLOTSON: It's scientific; you may say those words.
BERMAN: OK. In addition to increased sensation. They all note
increased sensitivity and increased sensation in that area. And lo
and behold, they have all been able to have an orgasm. I've had to
adjust the dose on them, and some are on 50 milligrams, some are
on 75, some are on a hundred. But they are all -- One is unable to
achieve this with intercourse, but with other measures, she's able
to. And they're delighted and...
TILLOTSON: I bet their husbands or mates are, too.
BERMAN: Absolutely. They're wanting to talk to everybody, help
other women. I want to emphasize this is not to say that women
should not have hysterectomies, 'cause there are clear indications
for it. But what we need to do is redefine the anatomy and really
understand where the nerves and blood vessels run so that, you
know, when we're doing these operations, we can make attempts
to preserve them like we do in the men that are having
prostatectomies (ph). The same needs to be done in the women. It
just hasn't yet.
CNN Transcript - CNN & Company: Viagra: The Miracle Pill? - May 7, 1998
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