Comparison of the efficacy of fluoxetine alone vs. fluoxetine plus local lidocaine ointment in the treatment of premature ejaculation.

OBJECTIVE

The present study compares the efficacy and side effects of fluoxetine alone vs. fluoxetine plus local lidocaine ointment in the treatment of premature ejaculation.

METHODS

Forty-three patients suffering from premature ejaculation were studied. The exclusion criteria were erectile dysfunction, loss of libido, alcohol and substance abuse, mental retardation, diabetes mellitus, thyroid disease, hypotension, previous use of these drugs and urogenital infections. The patients' ages ranged from 19 to 48 years (mean age 28 +/- 1.6). They had regular sexual lives. They had normal psychiatric consultation and the Glombock Rast Sexual Satisfactory Test (GRISS) psychiatric test were in accordance with premature ejaculation.

RESULTS

The patients were assigned to two groups. Twenty-six patients, aged 21 to 36 years (mean age 27), received only fluoxetine 20 mg/day (1 capsule) for a week which was later increased to 40 mg/day (2 capsules). Seventeen patients, aged 19 to 48 years (mean age 31), were given fluoxetine 20 mg/day plus local application of lidocaine ointment. The patients and partners were re-evaluated 8 weeks after the treatment. The results were classified as unsuccessful, improvement and cure. The chi-square test was used for statistical analysis. In the fluoxetine group, 8 (30.8%) patients cured, 11 (42.2%) showed improvement and there were 7 failures (26.9%). In the combination treatment group, 9 (52.9%) patients cured, improvement was observed in 5 (29.4%) and failure in 3 (17.6%). Side effects in group I were observed in 6 patients (23%) and in 5 (29.4%) in group II. There were no statistical differences between the two groups according to the side effects (p > 0.01). No patients were excluded from the study due to side effects.

CONCLUSION

The combination of fluoxetine plus local application of lidocaine ointment was found to be more effective than fluoxetine alone in the treatment of premature ejaculation. However, the results should be confirmed in further studies with a placebo group to rule out the placebo effect.