Patient's perspectives of injection‐site pain in intracavernosal therapy

Abstract

AbstractIn this article, we report on patient's self‐reported anticipated and actual experiences of injection‐site pain while learning intracavernosal therapy. This is significant because anticipated pain has a strong bearing on the willingness of patients to pursue this form of treatment. We looked at 25 men undergoing teaching for intracavernosal injections for erectile dysfunction of mixed aetiology to assess their anticipated pain levels against actual pain levels experienced while injecting. Patients used a standard 0–10 pain score to indicate the level of pain they expected to experience while injecting prior to giving themselves an injection. They were subsequently asked to indicate how painful they actually found the injection. We found that, despite the fact that the majority of patients surveyed expected to experience moderate to severe levels of pain, post‐injection they reported either no pain or mild pain. Men undergoing teaching for penile self‐injection tend to overestimate the injection‐site pain caused by such treatment. Being able to reassure prospective patients of the ease of injection therapy may improve uptake.