what causes an erection

this session is on how men can take self-care of themselves. just like women need to watch theirbreasts for any changes or lumps, men, too need to want to watch for in changes,particularly in their testicles. any small hard lump heavy feeling,accumulation of fluid, any discharge through the penis that is different in urine or seminal fluid. any painful urination, itching, sores, or warts need to be reported immediately to your doctor.just like women need to do self exams, once a month, the weekafter their period, men need to do self exams every one to two timeseach month. women have a period remind them to do this. you men don't have that, so you just need to make a routine to do it the

first of every month when you make yourvehicle payment, your house payment. just figure out a time. you can put a reminder in you calendar. every month you can do a self exam. by doing this, you will roll gently between your thumb and forefinger each testes. you have to do each one. the best time to check is probably while you are in shower because the heat causes them to hang away from the body and make it easier to be tested. once you are 35, something iunderstand you men do not look forward to doing you will need go to your doctor to have aprostate palpation each year. this is a rectal exam. i'm sure you can argue about doing this; but women have to start going in for

their annual exam when they are 21. you get off the hook for many more years. also, smega can be a problem for men who are not circumcised. if you are not circumcised, you will have learned that you will have to retract the foreskin and make sure you cleanse around the corona properly. this is what it would look like to examine each testes, gently rolling between your fingers and your thumb. any lumps, bumps, and swelling of the testes is a signal that something is not right. a hydrocele would be a collection of fluid which would take surgery to remove. a spermatatocele is a cyst of the vassa efferential. this is the space right below the epididymis, so be sure when do testicular self-exam

test up towards the top, right under theridge, which is the epididymis. hernia is a the rupture of the scortal sac. a lot of older men get hernias in their small intestine from too much lifting. you can also get a hernia in your testicle, this, too, needs to be brought to thedoctor's attention. teticular cancer is very rare. only one percent of men get get this cancer. however, early detection is the key and you will have tohave surgery to remove the testes, possible chemotherapy or radiation butif you catch it early and have it removed you can live a very healthy life. the situation with testicular cancer is that while most cancers effect older men,

testicular cancer affects young men, ages 20 to 35. so you need to begin doing your exams at a very early age and continue them,really through your life, because you can older than 35. but, the most common years are between 20 - 25. seminoma is the name of the most common. this shows where a possible problem could be. this would be about the size of the bb or a p. so, it can be very small, it could also be as the size of a marble, so be sure to test the whole testes and also the epididimis is not not marked here; but you could get a possible cystright under theepididymis. so, be sure you test that area as well. diseases of the the testis include anorchism, which is whereboth testes are lacking at birth.

the doctor, once they realize they havenot descended, which can be a situation as well, they would know that there areno tests and that young boy would not produce sperm nor testosterone. so, they would have to have a testosterone supplement. monorchidisim is when only one testes is in the scrotum. so, a boy could be born this way or they could for various reasons, particularly cancer, have one removed.cryptorchidism is basically when they fail to descend. now, i want you to listen carefully. what isnormal for a young boy -- a baby -- to be born to have the testes in the scrotal sac.that's what's normal; however, it is not unusual for the test is to be up in thebody and it may just take them awhile to descend. the doctor will help you figureout how when this is done. the concern is

if you do not have the testes that havedescended into the scrotum, those young boys and they are are in their teens orlate teens, early 20's will have a 40% percent greater chance of testicularcancer. again, early detection is the key. if you get cancer, you're gonna have tohave the testes removed, possible radiation and chemotherapy. testicular failureis when the testis doesn't produce hormones or the sperm, they just fail to produce. they are there, theyjust don't produce. epididymitis is inflammation of the epididymis. obviously, just inflammation. the penis si multi-purpose organ forreproduction, urination, and of course we can't forget recreation. it conveys bothurine and semen through the urethra and is

specialized to elongate and stiffen thatcauses the erection. the glans, we have already learned this in class,that is the head of the penis. the urethral opening which is called the meatus. it has a prepace orforeskin, the skin covering the head of the penis, before the baby would becircumcised. and the greatest number of nerve endings in the penis are found inthe glans and the corona which is the raised ridge. the only time maybe you'veheard the word corona would be the beer; however that means crown. it is the raised ridge of the penis. the frenulum is also sensitive and that is basically just with connectivetissue of skin on the underside that connects the glans to the shaft.

here is a picture of those structures that we were talking about. you can see the glans and urethral opening, better known as the meatus. the corona, the raised ridge. the frenulum is that connective tissue that connects the foreskin to the glans and then the sulcus is just basically that extra skin. the penis has three cylinders. two on top -- the two copora cavernosum and the way to remember that, the two cc's. they're vascular spaces with the blood flowing into them. the blood becomes trapped and that's what causesan erection. it is also has a fibrous coating around the capora cavernosumthat will help keep the penis hard when

it becomes erect. the coupus spongiosum on the bottom on the base of the penis.basically, the urethrapasses through this. the next slide will will be a picture of it. here's a diagram of the penis you cansee the two copora cavernosum t on top and the corpus spongiosum, bottom part of the penis. the urethra goes through it. upon an erection the corpus spongiosum becomes a raised ridge on the bottom of the penis because that's going to enlarge andalso, it is going to take on a blue hue because blood that flows through thecorpus spongiosum.the corpus spongiosum does not get hard. it just increases in size, wherethe copora cavernosum, the two on top, the

blood becomes trapped into those. that'swhat makes the penis erect. you see the smiley face here under thethree sizes of the penis. i always ask my students in class what would those be . the answer i get is small, medium, and large every time. the true answer is:huge, gigantic, and so big you can't get it to the door. this basically just tellsyou that size is important to a male. but, remember, to a vagina, it is not thatimportant because just the outer third of the vagina has nerve endings. if you have a penis that is an inch and a third,. you're going to please a vagina. i doubtany of you would have a problem doing that. it is interestiing the study that you see on your slide andthere's a new edition of your text that

just came out. i just got a copy of thatand it is sill the same study. i keep thinking that they are going to update the study; but they haven't. this tells me that penis size has not changed over theyears. the average non-erect penis is three and a half inches in length and3.9 inches in circumference. the average erect penis is 5.1 inches long and 4.9 inches in circumference so it gains length and circumference. the range oferect penises ranges from 2.8 to 7.2. the really cool is there's a thing calledthe equalizing effect, because smaller penises gain more size upon erection. so don't go laughing at the guy in the locker room that has the littlest penis because he's probably the biggest stud in the bedroom.

one last thing about penis size -- there is no demonstrated relationship between heighth and body size or any other particular organ and the penis size. however, there has been evidence of significant differencesin corpus spongiosum in a different ethnic groups. this concludes the information on self-care and the penis.