Nitroglycerin has been used as an active ingredient in many medications for more than a century, most often to treat high blood pressure and chest pain, but scientists have begun to study the chemical’s effectiveness for treating ED. In other words, the gel helps you get hard and stay hard. Nitroglycerin also releases nitric oxide, a compound that acts as a neurotransmitter that activates the nerves, helps relax the smooth muscle cells, and reduces the “outflow” of blood from the penis. Nitroglycerin gels stimulate erections by dilating blood vessels, allowing for more blood to enter the penis. “Nitro gels make sense because they’re more powerful than pills and can be applied right to where you need them to work,” says New York-based urologist Elizabeth Kavaler, MD, a Men’s Health advisor. Unlike the little blue pills-which often require hours to work and have to be taken on an empty stomach-topical nitroglycerin gels and creams are rubbed directly onto the penis and begin working within minutes.
And you're probably wondering where to get them.
If you’re one of the 30 million men in the United States experiencing erectile dysfunction (ED), you’ve probably heard of nitroglycerin gels.
