What Is The Difference Between Impotence And Erectile Dysfunction?

Impotence and sterility are two common problems affecting male sexual health.

Though people call it the same, health experts associate the terms with two different conditions.

Impotence is a condition that denotes erectile dysfunction characterized by failure to sustain erections.

On the other hand, sterility is a condition that makes conception difficult.

Though both can be treated the treatment for impotence only comprises treating erectile problems, while sterility could need more plans.

To find out more differences between these conditions, stay hooked on till the end as we bring you a report on how impotence and sterility affect men differently.

Impotence vs Sterility – The Meaning and Differences

Impotence and sterility are two of the common sexual problems faced by men which they usually don’t discuss.

But, this lack of discussion and education on the subject has created a thick misconception about both the terms denoting the same sexual condition.

However, the truth resides in the fact that both impotence and sterility have two different meanings and share the following differences:

• Impotence is a condition that could lead to interference in the natural conception process, but Sterility is the condition where a person fails to conceive naturally.
• Sterility summarises multiple conditions that make a person fail in conception, while impotence merely denotes erectile dysfunction or failure to achieve erections.
• Impotence is just about erections and does not affect the semen parameters, but sterility can be because of affected semen parameters.
• Since impotence denotes only one condition, it could be treated easily, but for sterility, there could be multiple conditions that require multiple treatment plans.

While the differences do draw the actual line of separation between these two medical conditions, there is yet more to be discovered about these conditions individually.

Understanding The Terms – Impotence vs Sterility

Impotence

Impotence is characterized by the inability of a man to maintain an erection hard enough to penetrate.

In terms of the medical society, it is often referred to as erectile dysfunction.

The condition is characterized by reduced blood flow to the penile area either because of lack of arousal, or underlying medical conditions.

It could also be due to nervous disorders as when a person is sexually aroused, the brain sends signals to the arteries and veins of the penile area to fill in with blood and cause an erection.

Sometimes people often confuse impotence with premature ejaculation, but the condition shows only a triad of symptoms:

• Trouble getting an erection
• Getting erections but not able to sustain it enough to have sex
• Reduced sexual desire

Other than these three, impotence doesn’t associate with any abnormalities of the semen parameters.

Next, we talk about sterility and what makes it different from impotence.

Sterility

Sterility is a medical condition where a person cannot conceive and hence cannot have children.

Sometimes sterile vs infertile individual is often confused because of the terms denoting similar conditions but with a thin line of difference.

Sterility is a condition marked by an inability to have a biological child, on the other hand, infertility is a condition where a person fails to conceive after a certain period.

There are three types of sterility that a couple can face:

• Natural sterility – for example, low semen volume among men, or abnormal sperm resulting in an inability to reproduce naturally.
• Clinical sterility – a condition where even the treatment won’t help in reproducing
• Hardship sterility – is the inability to bear any treatment for sterility and hence unable to reproduce

Contrasting to impotence, sterility could be due to various causes and not just the causes that affect erections.

Usually, people can make out on their own if they are suffering from impotence, but that’s complex in the case of sterility.

Some symptoms that can help you identify if you are suffering from sterility are:

• Premature or delayed ejaculation
• A small volume of semen
• Erectile dysfunction
• Lower sperm count than the normal
• Lack of sexual desire

Other than the symptoms and the true meaning of the terms impotence and sterility, even their causes are different from each other.

Finding out more about what factors can cause these medical conditions would help you differentiate better.

Sterility vs Impotence – Causes

Since sterility affects the entire reproductive system and not just erections, it has a more vast list of causes as compared to impotence.

Sterility Causes

Sterility can affect both men and women, and hence could either be caused by a common health condition or because of gender-specific causes.

Common causes

The common health complications that can make an individual sterile are:

• Damaged DNA – chromosomal abnormalities can lead to damage to the sperm DNA or ova DNA making it incompatible for fertilization.
• Mutations causing miscarriage – sometimes during the chromosomal transfer from parents to the fetus, the fetus could carry an extra genetic material. This leads to a chromosomal imbalance increasing the rate of miscarriages.
• Less secretion of the pituitary hormone – in such conditions there is a lower secretion of the growth hormone that further affects other reproductive hormones. For example, in men with decreased pituitary hormone, there is a decrease in the FSH causing less sperm production.
• Environmental factors – factors like exposure to alcohol, smoking, or even anabolic steroids could interfere with fertility in both men and women. In terms of men, it could lead to erectile dysfunction while in women it increases the risk of miscarriages.

Male Specific Causes

Abnormal testicular function – at least one of the testes should be functioning correctly to produce enough sperms for fertilization.

• Low sperm quality – healthy sperm with a good motility rate is important for fertilization.
• Varicocele – is a reversible medical condition that reduces the blood flow to the testes.
• Infections – some infections could hinder your reproductive health by blocking the passage for the release of sperm or by affecting sperm production.
• Retrograde ejaculation – in rare conditions your ejaculation may result in the semen traveling into the bladder instead of coming out from the penis.
• Antibodies against sperm – sometimes anti-sperm antibodies are formed by the immune system that attacks sperms and reduces the number.
• Hormonal imbalance – any abnormality in the body that affects the release of hormones like testosterone, GH, or FSH can lead to sterility among men.
• Erectile dysfunction or impotence – impotence and infertility
• Are interconnected to some extent.  Impotence could prevent sex and hence make you sterile, but treating the dysfunction could reverse your sterility.

Next, we talk about the causes of Impotence. Since impotence is all about erections, maintenance, and sustainability, the causes are mainly related to reducing blood flow to the penile area.

Impotence Causes

Erections occur when the blood vessels around the penile area dilate and fill in the tissue with blood.

Since the mechanism of erections involves arteries and nervous signals, only those conditions that affect these two factors can result in impotence (generic viagra).

• Atherosclerosis – is a condition characterized by the formation of plaque-like mass within blood vessels blocking the blood supply to certain areas.
• High blood pressure – reduces the flow of blood to the lower extremities resulting in poor erections.
• High cholesterol – can cause atherosclerosis and hence reduce blood circulation to the penile area.
• Metabolic syndrome – is characterized by high blood pressure, low insulin, and high cholesterol, all of which can contribute to reduced blood flow.
• Excessive smoking – can cause atherosclerosis by forming plaques across the blood vessels reducing the blood flow to the penile area leading to erectile dysfunction.
• Peyronie’s disease – can cause the formation of scar tissue in the penis resulting in erectile dysfunction with a curvature in the penis.
• Diabetes – diabetes can injure the blood vessels and the nerves associated with the penis leading to problems in erections.
• Injury to the penis too can result in erectile dysfunction.

Erectile dysfunction could also be temporary because of too much stress and psychological reasons like peer pressure.

However, they can go away with time, in case they don’t go away on their certain mindful therapies could help,

 Looking at the causes, we note that:

• Sterility could be due to various underlying problems affecting different parts of the body.
• In terms of impotence, the problem starts with poor blood supply to the penis.

Conclusion – Impotence vs Sterility

Impotence vs sterility, though different sexual problems are often considered the same.

Despite denoting completely different problems, where the former is a cause of the other, people believe that impotence could also mean infertility.

This notion comes from the fact that untreated impotence could result in complete sterility.

However, on understanding the terms we find that impotence is just specific for erections while sterility summarises various causes that can intervene in conception.

We also noted a major difference in the causes, where there are many causes of sterility, but impotence is only caused when there is an obstruction to the blood flow.

Hence, this brings an end to the confusion between a sterile and an impotent patient.

FAQs – Impotence vs Sterility

1. Can an impotent man have a child?

Impotence meaning is different from infertility. Since impotence is the inability to maintain strong erections, an impotent man can have enough potential to be fertile.

Such couples can also use artificial techniques for a child.

2. How to conceive when the husband has erectile dysfunction?

Usually, men with erectile dysfunction are not able to have sex, and hence getting pregnant could be difficult.

Since ED could be because of both physical and mental reasons, seeking treatment is the best.

Once ED is treated there wouldn’t be a problem in conceiving as it doesn’t affect any semen parameters.

But if that doesn’t work you could go for intrauterine insemination where the semen from your partner would be collected and injected into your ova.

3. Can a man recover from impotency?

In most cases, yes the condition can be reversed with the right treatment.

But that’s not possible in every case, sometimes the treatment is only able to improve the symptoms and improve the quality of life.

4. Can a sterile man have a baby?

Pregnancy among sterile couples is trickier than in infertile couples, as sometimes even the clinical procedures of assistive reproduction.

But that doesn’t make it impossible for a sterile man to have a baby.

5. How does a man know if he is sterile?

The usual problems of sterility show signs of problems in the sexual functions like premature or delayed ejaculations, less sexual desire than before, erectile dysfunction, small volumes of ejaculation, and pain during sexual intercourse.

6. Does erectile dysfunction affect sperm count?

No erectile dysfunction doesn’t cause an effect on sperm count as it is caused by reduced signals from the brain or due to less blood supply.