Urologic emergencies are medical conditions that need to be diagnosed and managed right away in order to prevent severe complications. Many urologic emergencies can lead to infertility or loss of sexual functions if not treated immediately.

For instance, testicular torsion, if treated more than twelve hours after the emergency occurred, can cause your testicular cells to die. Your urologist would then need to remove the affected testicle to prevent further complications.

Here are 6 urological emergencies you need to be careful of.

1. Paraphimosis

When your foreskin becomes stuck behind the glans and you cannot put it back to its original position, the condition is referred to as paraphimosis. If the foreskin stays retracted for a long time, it can become swollen and can strangulate your glans.

Eventually, your glans will become ischemic, which means that it’s no longer supplied with enough oxygenated blood. And then the cells in your glans will start dying. Once the tissues in your glans have become necrotic, they would need to be surgically removed. Otherwise, the decomposing dead tissue would build up and cause gangrene.

2. Priapism

Priapism is a painful condition wherein your penis continues to stay erect for more than four hours. When priapism occurs, the erection is typically unrelated to sexual stimulation. In some cases, the penis continues to be erect for hours even when the sexual stimulation has already ceased.

Among the three types of priapism, ischemic priapism is the most dangerous, in the sense that it’s the one that’s most likely to make you impotent. Ischemic priapism happens when the blood trapped inside the corpus cavernosa of your penis isn’t flowing out. It’s supposed to flow out so that your penis can become flaccid.

If priapism is not treated even after 36 hours, it will most certainly result in erectile dysfunction. If you’re able to get medical attention within 24 hours, there’s a 50% chance that you may be spared from erectile dysfunction.

If priapism continues untreated for more than a day, your chances of developing erectile dysfunction increase from 50% to 90%. Experts recommend that priapism should be treated within the first four hours so that erectile function can be preserved.

3. Penile Fractures

We tend to associate vigorous sexual activity with hot, steamy nights of passionate sex. However, vigorous sexual activity is one of the most common causes of penile fractures. When you’re thrusting vigorously, your penis can slip out of your partner’s vagina.

If your penis strikes your partner’s pubic bone or perineum, you might hear a popping sound. If you do, that means that your corpus cavernosum has become ruptured. You’ll most likely feel a lot of pain, and detumescence will be immediate.

If you’re seeing blood coming out of the tip of your penis, or you find it difficult to urinate, or there’s blood in your urine, it could also mean that your urethra was also injured. Penile fractures also typically result in eggplant deformity wherein hematoma forms between your tunica albuginea and your penile skin, making your penis look purple.

4. Fournier Gangrene

Gangrene occurs when the tissues in a part of your body are dead or dying due to a bacterial infection or because of insufficient oxygenated blood flow. Gangrene is typically associated with dying toes or fingers due to hypothermia. But it can affect your genitals, too. And when that happens, the condition is called Fournier gangrene.

Fournier gangrene can affect your perineum, scrotum, or penis. Diabetic men are vulnerable to Fournier gangrene, and so are men who are chronic alcoholics or whose immune system is compromised. Fournier gangrene also typically affects older men.

The types of bacteria that commonly cause Fournier gangrene include Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacteroides species, and Streptococcus pyogenes. Fournier gangrene usually starts as an inflammation in the subcutaneous connective tissues in your genital area, then it rapidly progresses to necrotizing fasciitis or inflammation of the organ fascia.

5. Urethral Injuries

A urethral injury may occur when either the anterior or posterior part of your urethra becomes partially or completely disrupted. This kind of injury can happen along with penile fracture, pelvic fracture, or penetrating penile injury.

A urethral injury is typically accompanied by blood in the meatus, hematoma in the penis or in the perineum, and a high-riding prostate gland, as well as a distended bladder.

Depending on what caused your urethral injury, different types of treatments will be employed by your urologist. What’s important is that it gets treated right away to prevent incontinence, hemorrhage, and erectile dysfunction.

6. Testicular Rupture

The tunica albuginea of the testis is a dense membrane that covers the testis. When it becomes disrupted due to an injury to the testicles, the condition is called testicular rupture. Blunt traumatic injuries cause 75% of injuries to the testicles. In most of these cases, testicular rupture occurs.

The problem with a testicular rupture is that the swelling or the pain associated with the injury does not fully indicate how much damage the testis suffered. Thus, a thorough medical examination is needed to find out the extent of the testicular damage.

If the testicular rupture is repaired within three days of the injury, the testicle can be saved 90% of the time. Otherwise, severe complications would occur which may necessitate the removal of the affected testis.

Managing Erectile Dysfunction

When these urological emergencies are not treated immediately, they will most likely cause erectile dysfunction as a complication. When physical injuries such as penile fracture cause erectile dysfunction, the treatment may require more than just taking oral medications.

In many other cases of erectile dysfunction, the condition can be managed by taking medications that promote erection. Male sex enhancement supplements are also a viable treatment option.

This contains safe natural ingredients such as Tribulus terrestris, horny goat weed, Tongkat Ali, and maca. These herbs are all well-known for their effective erection-boosting properties and are recognized as natural treatment options for impotence.

In addition, it also contains natural aphrodisiacs and testosterone boosters such as Butea superba, damiana, and muira puama. The natural ingredients used in the formulation of these natural supplements can dramatically enhance your erectile function and greatly improve your sexual performance.