Men turn to net for sex solutions

Pieter Watson, general manager of the New Zealand Men's Clinic in Parnell, says men like to be well informed before discussing their problems. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Men afflicted with erectile dysfunction and too scared to discuss it with their doctor are turning to the internet for answers to hard questions.

Christchurch-based James (not his real name) said it was far easier for him to look for help about his erectile dysfunction on the internet rather than talk about it with his GP.

James, managing director of a company, describes his life as time-pressured and stressed and that had a very big effect on his ability to be a loving sexual partner to his wife.

"Fortunately I was away on business a lot so my little problem was not that evident," he said.

Once he decided that he had to take action, he looked around on the net for material and then came across a website for The Men's Clinic in Auckland.

"I read everything there was about my problem on the website and then just sent them an email. That was possibly the hardest thing - admitting there was a problem."

After that James said they contacted him and booked him in for an appointment where they gave him "the full lookover" and eventually, after a medical examination, issued him with a prescription.

"I never knew there was such a range of products out there."

The good thing, he said, is he and his wife now have a product they can use if they are "wanting a good session" and nature is not in the mood.

The biggest things James learned though were to step back from his problems and take a look at his stress.

Pieter Watson, Men's Clinic general manager, said their website is getting huge amounts of traffic.

Men are not prepared to sit back and suffer any longer, he said, and are finally being more open about things in this area.

He said last August the site had 1199 visits, up from 886 for the same time last year.

"We find the guys who get round to making an appointment have already done a lot of research before they come in and see our doctors.

"They like to be well informed before they discuss their sensitive issues with the specialists and also to be able to use the right terminology".

Watson said the clinic will increase the content on the site with more comprehensive Q&As and specialist information.

He said research of the six most frequently searched phrases with its target audience, according to searches driven through the website over a 24-hour period between November 2 and 3, was fascinating.

There were nearly 10,000 searches using the term "viagra nz", he said. "Premature ejaculation" with 3768 search queries was second. "Erectile dysfunction" generated 2420 search queries followed closely by "male impotency" with 2271.

Mark Ottaway, Nielsen/NetRatings New Zealand managing director, said health-related issues are popular. Research showed 20 per cent of Kiwis with internet access said they had researched health in the past month.

XtraMSN's health section, which is the biggest single health site measured by his company, received 198,677 unique browser visits last month, for example. Of those, 142,087 (72 per cent) were New Zealanders, said Ottaway.