A month after marriage, Suparna Bhaduri, 23 (name changed), decided to initiate divorce proceedings against husband Alokesh. While the entire family was guessing what went wrong, Alokesh revealed that he was suffering from erectile dysfunction. But instead of resigning himself to fate, he decided to have a silicon penile implant.

Alokesh?s move speaks volumes for a dramatic change in the attitude of the city?s males to sexual problems. Men who had for generations preferred to remain silent about their sexual problems are now bold enough to come out in the open and seek a cure.

In the past year-and-a-half, 30 Calcuttans have undergone silicon penile implants to overcome erectile dysfunction.

The silicon implant, nine to15 cm long, is placed in the corpora cavernosa (chambers for blood flow in the male sex organ) after making an incision at the base to provide rigidity to the organ during intercourse.

?The 30 couples who had come to us had tried all kinds of medical therapy, including self-administered injections and mechanical devices like cylinders, without any success. But after the implant, 29 of them had been able to consummate their marriage and are now very happy,? explained andrologist Avishek Mukherjee, who conducted the surgeries at Wockhardt Hospital and Kidney Institute.

?Most of the males who had opted for an implant had no problem with ejaculation, but suffered from erectile dysfuntion,? he added.

According to a rough estimate, around 10 per cent of the male population in the city suffers from the dysfunction. With the figure rising gradually, penile implants are becoming a popular alternative.

Two types of implants are available in the city. While the moderately-priced, semi-rigid implant is more common, the costly, inflatable implant is of superior quality. ?I had preferred the semi-rigid implant because it was less expensive. I now have no problems in leading a normal life,? said Swagata Chatterjee (name changed on request).

The inflatable device has a sterile fluid-reservoir surgically implanted inside the abdomen, while the implant device is placed in the sex organ and is connected to a trigger inserted in the scrotum. ?Seconds before the sexual act, all the man has to do is press the trigger and the sterile fluid immediately enters the implant device to inflate it and provide rigidity,? explained Mukherjee.

?There are a lot of problems men are ashamed to talk about, but we thought it?s time they were provided with solutions,? said Rupali Basu, general manager of Wockhardt Hospitals.

While the silicon implant comes for just Rs 12,000, the technologically-advanced inflatable device costs Rs 1.5 lakh.

Erectile dysfunction occurs due to various reasons, including psychological and neuro-genic. ?Most patients have a psychological problem and in the others, blood flow to the sex organ is hampered,? added Mukherjee.