There’s no doubt that Viagra has become synonymous with ED treatment. The little blue pill is undoubtedly the world’s most popular and best-sold impotence medicine and it manages to stay ahead of the competition for years. This medicine, based on sildenafil-citrate is used by thousands, if not millions of men all across the globe and continues to help him have a satisfying and fulfilling sex life.
But with this immense success and popularity also comes the question of safety. While side effects, interactions and contraindications have been considered in detail at other pages on our website, here we will focus on the question of age limit for Viagra.
So, what is the age limit for Viagra?
What’s on this page?
Impotence and Age
It is almost common knowledge that impotence is more prevalent in older men than in younger. In fact, there’s a rough statistic that shows that the correlation between ED and age can be represented as following – 10% of men are affected per decade of life. This means that in their 20s, only 20% of male population will experience some difficulties, while this number will reach 30% for men in their 30s and so on. So, there is a clear link between impotence and age.1
However, the correlation represented in this way is rather rough and imprecise. What’s more, it doesn’t tell much about the causes of ED. Speaking of that, we can mention that while in younger men this problem is mostly caused by psychological factors – so-called emotional impotence – in older men the reasons are most of the time physiological in nature.
When can Viagra help?
Due to its mechanism of action, unique to PDE-5 inhibitors, the class of pharmaceutical substances that sildenafil belongs to, Viagra can be efficiently used only for the treatment of ED that is caused by physiological factors. PDE-5 inhibitors work by, as the name implies, inhibiting the action of phosphodiesterase enzyme type 5 (or PDE-5 for short).
This substance exists naturally within the human body and has an important function of driving the blood away from the penis after ejaculation in order to prevent possible injury. It does that by degrading cyclic guanosine monophosphate, or cGMP for short within the corpus cavernosum. This compound, in turn, plays the opposite role – it helps expand the blood vessels within the penis in order to increase the blood inflow and thus cause an erection.
Men diagnosed with ED usually have elevated levels of PDE-5 enzymes in their system, so cGMP molecules are degraded before they should be. This is where Viagra comes in – it stops this process and ensures that blood vessels remain expanded and the blood flow strong enough to cause a strong and long-lasting erection.
In short, Viagra can only help with ED if the condition is caused by physiological factors and is not effective in the treatment of emotional impotence – the kind prevalent in younger men.
What’s Viagra lower age limit?
The short answer is 18, of course. However, this limit is more concerned with the norms and legal considerations than with safety. All the clinical trials conducted so far never tested Viagra in men younger than 18, so there is no data on what exactly might happen here. On the other hand, 18 is, in most countries, the age of consent, so it is assumed that younger men wouldn’t really need Viagra anyways. But, the fact is that Viagra also comes with certain potential side effects, so one needs to be aware of what could go wrong when buying – again, this kind of responsibility can usually only be taken if you’re not a minor.
At the same time, one cannot say that it would be inherently dangerous nor safe as there are no scientific facts to prove either claim.
Viagra for young men – a source of controversy
Every now and then, there is someone who is ready to accuse Pfizer or some pharmacy that’s selling Viagra that they’re trying to promote the medicine among younger men who would use it for fun, and not for the treatment of the problem. This is because Viagra also shortens the time between two erections and thus contributes to what many consider to be an increased sexual prowess.
This use definitely isn’t advised, especially since there is no reason to risk potential side effects for a negligible reduction of the refractory period.
What’s Viagra’s upper age limit?
Customary, the upper age limit for Viagra use is placed as 85. But, similarly to the lower limit, this one is also not “written in stone”. In fact, as long as you are older than 18, you can safely use Viagra, as long as your doctor approves of that treatment. Viagra will not cause any problems in itself in older men, especially if they had no problems in the past. In other words, if you used Viagra safely at one point in your life, in ideal situation, you can continue doing so in the future, too.
However, the problem with older men is not Viagra in itself, but other conditions that might develop as a result of old age, especially cardiovascular problems, that are considered to be contraindications. Similarly to this, some other conditions which don’t pose a risk for Viagra treatment can be problematic if they are treated with medicines that can interact with sildenafil, such as nitrates.
Conclusion
As evident, the age limits for Viagra use are not as strict as one might imagine. The medicine is not recommended for those younger than 18, but there are no facts that can prove that it’s safe, nor that it’s dangerous. At the same time, the upper limit, usually placed at 85, is more concerned with other conditions that might pose a risk or medications that can have harmful interactions with Viagra.
In any case, when it comes to Viagra treatment, it is the doctor that will have a final say. Viagra and generic sildenafil are both prescription-only medicines, so no matter what is your age, be sure to disclose everything that might be of importance to your doctor. This is the only way to ensure that Viagra treatment remains not only effective but also completely safe.
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