Viagra patients happy with new sex life
ELLA LEE
04/22/1999
South China Morning Post
Page 2
A quarter of patients taking Viagra are very happy with their new sex life, and Hong Kong men suffer fewer side effects than Westerners, according to a study.
The men's clinic at Kwong Wah Hospital announced the findings after completing checks on 100 men taking the anti-impotence pills since mid-February.
Consultant urologist Dr Andrew Yip Wai-chun said many patients felt "very happy".
"About a quarter say so, but we believe the actual number is higher: Chinese people are just too shy to express their feelings," he said.
Dr Yip said half of the patients had been encouraged by wives or girlfriends to try the pill. One-tenth had their partners with them at consultations.
The number seeking help from the clinic has doubled since the launch of Viagra .
More than 500 are on the waiting list while the wait for first consultation has increased from three months to eight months.
Most of the 100 patients are between 50 and 59. The youngest patient is 36 and the oldest 77.
About 13 per cent of the patients have endured problems for more than 10 years.
Dr Yip said that of the three patients in their 30s, one suffered the condition due to unemployment. "As unemployment is a big blow to him, it caused much anxiety," he said.
The study also revealed that only a small portion of patients suffered side effects.
They included five cases of hot flushes, four of nasal congestion and others with headaches (four), dizziness (two), dyspepsia (one) and a rash (one).
That compares to the 10 to 15 per cent of Westerners using the pills who have flushes or nasal congestion.
Moreover, Viagra worked on 83 per cent of the patients.
"Chinese people seem to have fewer side-effects.
"None of our patients has eyesight problems as documented overseas, such as being sensitive to strong light and having difficulty seeing objects in blue or green," Dr Yip said.
"However, that may be because Chinese people are more conservative. They tend to have sex at night, which may be why no eyesight problems have been detected."
The study showed that 29 per cent of patients were smokers, 21 per cent diabetics and one-third suffered hypertension.
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