By Sara Miller, NoCamels -
An Israeli startup has developed a new device that provides an answer to erectile dysfunction (ED) – a medical condition that affects a large majority of men as they age.
The Vertica device produced by Ohh-Med uses radio frequency technology to create an electromagnetic field that stimulates the production of the collagen that is a major component of the structural tissue of the penis. The increased collagen then helps blood flow by improving the support for the veins.
“The collagen remodeling [creates] good erection quality and degradation of flaccidity,” Ohh-Med CEO Daniel Lischinsky tells NoCamels.
According to the World Health Organization, ED will affect 320 million men worldwide by 2025, while the internationally renowned Cleveland Clinic says around 40 percent of men experience ED by the age of 40 and nearly 70 percent by the age of 70.
Today, the most popular treatment for erectile dysfunction is the family of drugs that includes Viagra, which increase the blood flow to the penis and help it to become erect.
However, these drugs do have some side effects, including mild symptoms such as headaches, nausea and indigestion, but also more serious – and rarer – symptoms such as loss of vision and seizures. Furthermore, it is recommended that the medication is taken up to an hour in advance, and its efficacy can be adversely impacted by food and alcohol. It also only works in around two-thirds of men.
Ohh-Med’s solution, called Vertica, is a circular device, with controls on a bar at the top, which is placed at the base of the penis and then activated for a period of about 30-40 minutes.
The device has eight points of contact to apply the radio frequency technology, which during the process heat up to around 48 degrees centigrade, although the temperature felt on the body is considerably lower.
The user feels “a pleasant warmth” while using the device, says Lischinsky.
The warmth also directs the body to send plasma – the component of the blood that helps circulation and supports blood vessels – to the penis, he says, which also improves erectile function.
The stimulation of the collagen begins immediately, Lischinsky explains, and the positive results can be seen within one to three weeks in men of all ages, with a success rate of over 85 percent and no side effects.
Lishinsky even recalls that one of the users, an 87-year-old man, told him that the device had made him feel like a teenager again.
The company recommends that the device is used three times per week for the first month; twice weekly for the second month and then once every week for “maintenance” purposes.
Lischinsky was previously the founder of Endymed, the company that created the first facial skin-tightening machine using radio frequency that was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in its De Novo category, for new medical devices with no legal existing version.
The Endymed device creates heat that stimulates the production of collagen to help keep the skin of the face firm – creating similar results to a surgical facelift, albeit temporarily. And Lischinsky realized that he could apply the same principle to the collagen in the penis, leading to him found the Tiberias-based Ohh-Med in 2017.
Today, there are some 6,000 Vertica devices in use around the world, and according to Lischinsky is already causing a stir on social media and in professional medical circles. After all, he points out, there had been no new advances in the ED field since the arrival of Viagra in 1998.
Vertica is approved for use in Australia, the European Union, Israel and the UK, and the company is now planning to sell it commercially in those areas.
It is also currently undergoing trials in the US in order to receive repeat FDA approval, because even though the technology has already been approved, its use on a different part of the body requires further authorization.
“The theory makes sense; the results are more than amazing,” says Lischinsky. “We are on our way.”
