Penis Pumps - Myths and Truth
11 Nov 2025 · 15 min
Podcast episode ("Penis Pumps - Myths and Truth") hosted by Dr. Anne Truong with husband Bao. The episode demos an electric penis pump (consumer model), explains how it works (vacuum draws blood into the penis), describes benefits for men with venous ED and as foreplay, and emphasizes safety limits and common myths. Dr. Truong gives practical guidance (use a pump with a pressure gauge, avoid excessive suction, do not exceed recommended duration/frequency), notes contraindications (blood thinners), and dispels the long-term enlargement myth.
Questions this episode answers
About 5–10 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) negative pressure.
No more than about 10 minutes per session, and not more than twice a day (she advises preferably no more than once a day).
About every other day for six weeks, then about three times a week.
Chapters
This podcast is for you. The modern man. I'm Dr. Anne Truong, your host. I'm an intimate health medical doctor and best selling author of the book Erectile dysfunction Fix. I'll do a deep dive into sexual health and performance and how it affects men of all ages and backgrounds. So let's get started and be sure to visit my website@sexualhealthfulmenpodcast.com for more information and resources from the show. See you on the inside. Hello. Welcome to our episode today. This is Dr. Ann.
I'm Bao, her husband.
All right, so this is our second episode. We're back again. We're hoping to be better than we were last time. We took us like about 30 minutes to get ready for this episode, but we made it work and we're hoping to have another good content for you today. We we're going to talk about the penis pump. I just got this new penis pump called Udemy and it's actually an electric pump. And I'll put the link to this pump, how you can order it and it comes in a nice little champagne box here. And I want to kind of show you what it is and talk about why you should do penis pumping and what are the benefits and what are the myths and what are some side effects that you should be aware of. So is this a beautiful little box.
Now just, just to let the audience know, honey, that you've tried this on me. So. And I have to say, it was a little bit scary to begin with, but once we got going on it, it was actually very fun.
Yes, well, as you know, I'm a sexual health doctor, so everything I do, I have to experiment on him first. A guinea pig, everything. And that's how I decide whether it's good or not. And then he gives me feedback. Now if I have a penis, I would do it on myself first too, but I don't. But I get to experience what a female should experience and he gets experience what a male is. So we have the best of both worlds. And believe me, he tried everything. Right.
I've had everything done to me from a through zone. I'm her pin cushion. Anything that she wants to do, I get. And a lot of times I have to tell you folks out there, I have no choice. So we just go ahead and do it. And I put up with it.
Well, oftentimes our kids have to put up with that too because I would bring gadgets like this, home models like this.
You should see our family room. I know, with all these gadgets laying around. So before we have people coming over, we have to put away a lot of things.
Yeah, we actually have it on the kitchen counter. So I'm always experiencing and trying to up level my game, to be the best that I can be for you. So a penis pump. Why would you want to use a penis pump? Oftentimes it's actually a good aid for a man that has ED because what the penis pump does is that it brings in blood flow to the penis. And so you put the penis into a vacuum pump and it creates negative pressure. And because of the negative pressure, it gives you an erection by bringing blood flow to, to the shaft and to the tip, the glands. Now, it only help in patient that had venous blood flow problem. But if you have like an arterial or the blood flow that comes from the arteries, it may not help as much. Now, the usage of that is. I say that when you use a penis pump, it's like going to the gym for your penis muscles. Because when you go to the gym, you do biceps curls, right. And your biceps get tight and it gets bigger. And how often do you do that? You do that three times a week or you do it five times a week.
So what you're saying is the penis is a muscle.
The penis is a muscle, and if you don't use it, you lose it. And for men that has ed, if you don't use your penis, it's gonna start atrophying, it's gonna get smaller. And if you use a penis pump is bringing in blood flow to the penis. And even though you may not use it for sexual activity, it is bringing in blood flow. So that way your muscles is getting oxygen and that it is getting some type of blood flow rather than nothing at all. Remember, you don't use it, you will lose it.
Okay, that makes a lot of sense.
Yeah. And so we were supposed to start a timer. We forgot to do that. So we didn't want to go too long for you. So that's why you will want to use a penis pump, is to prevent muscle atrophy, but it also will help you get an erection. So let's open up this box right here.
But you know, before we begin, honey, I have to say, when you first did this on me, yes. It was to get feedback and to really look at the whole process coming from a male perspective. But you know, you guys listening out there, this could be a lot of fun too. When with foreplay. I mean, honestly, it was a lot of fun to do this.
Well, in fact, that's one of the indication for a penis pump is that it's a foreplay for the woman as well as for the man. And when you create an erection, you can actually put a ring at the base of the penis, and that will keep the erection there. And then you can use it for intercourse. And you don't have to have ed just to use the penis pump either. So the box comes in like a bag, like this, and it comes in with the pump, and it's actually an electric pump. Here, let me turn it on. All right, let's turn it on. I even charge it for you. And it has a little rubber tube here. And it also comes with a gel. And interestingly, it has this, which is called the fleshlight. Flesh, not flash flesh. F L E S H. And I didn't know what that was until we play a game called Cars against humanity. Now let me know if any of you ever played that game before. We played that game about a couple of weeks ago with our friends and learned about what a flashlight is. So this is called a flash light, which is what you see here. And that actually goes on the inside of the. This vacuum cylinder. So penis pump looks like this. And what you see here on the inside, I have no idea what this white bulb, but it works. It works when I saw it. But apparently this is also can be used as a male masturbator as well. The male vibrator. I mean, male vibrator. So it can be stimulatory as well as helping you with an erection. And it's also removable, so it can be removed from there as well. So you can decide to leave it in there or you can take it out. So I took it out, and it's electric. And to use the penis clump, you put it through here. And before you do it, make sure, guys, you shave at the base here, Shave hair, make sure you don't get the scrotum or devolved into the area. And push the base of the cylinder against your pubic bone as much as you can. And do this sitting up or standing. Don't do us lying down, or else you're going to lose suction. And you turn this on, and it's electric. And you have to use a pump what has a gauge on it. You see the gauge here? Because the gauge will tell you what the negative pressure is. If you use too much negative pressure, it will actually harm your penis. And we'll talk a little bit about that. But you don't want to go. You want to turn it on. You don't want to go more pressure than about. It has different gauges. You don't want to go more than about 5 to 10 millimeter of mercury of suction. Or what I tell my patient is that go into a point where you feel a little uncomfortable and then stop. Now you don't want to go quickly, start slow, and then wait until about 30 seconds or two minutes and then you see how it goes. Of course, this is not going to create that negative pressure, but you can see the gauge right here trying to create a negative suction.
See, folks, this is what I had to endure. Right here is what she's showing you, which is using a model I have to do the real thing. And it was actually fun.
Well, and so that's how you use the pump. Now, what I see in my patient is that they use it too much and you shouldn't use it more. You shouldn't pump more than about 10 minutes twice a day. And don't go more than 10 millimeter mercury pressure. But sometimes you use it too much. So what happens when you use it too much? Well, your penis gets fatigued. It's almost like when you go to the gym too much in the day, right? Your muscles just get tired. It doesn't work anymore. It gets fatigued. And therefore you can actually end up having ED because your penis muscle gets fatigued. And I hear that a lot.
So if you use it a lot and when it's time to have intimacy, you won't be able to perform because it's overused.
Yep, it gets overused. I don't suggest you use this more than once a day, but my patient will not say, oh, I'm using it more than once a day. They just go, well, I was using a pump and no longer helping me as much. I always ask them, well, how often do you use your pump? And I go, do you use it more than once? So another thing to remember is that don't be overzealous and pump it, because if you bring in too much pressure in there, you can have the blood vessels in the penis burst and you're going to have bruising.
Ouch.
Yes, you're going to have bruising and you can damage the muscle in the penis. And again, that will cause ED as well as pain as well, too. So there are consequences. And if you are on blood thinner, like if you have heart issues and if you are on blood thinner, then you should be get sure that you talk with your doctor before you use it as well. Make sure that it is safe. So we mentioned about bursting the blood vessel, using it too much. And if you're noticing that you're not as firm you used to be, then and you're probably using the pump too much. Right?
Having too much fun.
Right? And also sometimes if you find you're using a pump and you're having problems with ejaculation or not able to ejaculate or not fully ejaculating, then you're probably pumping too much. Or the penis ring that you put at the base is too tight. Now that ring sometimes can be too tight and that can be uncomfortable as well too. And something to note is that think of it like going to the gym. So this is your exercise here. And I recommend that you in the beginning do it about every other day for about six weeks and then do it about three times a week. Doesn't that sound like going to the gym and exercising your muscles for your triceps and your biceps curls? Right. And so I hope you find it useful.
It's worth time spent and you have to be disciplined and a ritual, right, in order to make this work, correct?
Yeah, no, it's like exercise, right? It does work and it can be almost like as a foreplay and it can be beneficial. Now there is one myth that goes around, says that you know, you to pump it can make your penis bigger. Now it can make it bigger while you're pumping. However, for the long term it doesn't make it bigger.
I just thought of something. What does Austin Powers and Dr. Ann have in common? Penis pump.
The penis pump. Austin Powers is one of my favorite, favorite all time movie.
Just thought about that.
And every time that they showed the scene where he brings out the penis pump, I laugh because it's so true. And I applaud him for using it actually. And I think that he's an international man, right? Is that what he said? International man. But what I was saying was that it doesn't in the long term, it doesn't make it bigger. But transiently or temporary, it can make it feel like it is bigger. But just be careful that you don't want to do it too often because there are some harm. And how often? Too often. More than once a day.
So using this, should it be under supervision of a doctor or you just buy one and use it?
Well, you can buy a penis pump that's on the Internet or over the counter, but I recommend that you go see a doctor and get an FDA approved pump because sometimes insurance will cover that. And FDA approved pump may be a little bit safer. And also if you do get one that is on the Internet and not with a doctor, make sure you get one with a gauge here, with this gauge right here. Because you don't want to get one without a gauge. Then you don't know how much negative pressure you're creating. Then you can end up harming your penis tissue.
Makes a lot of sense.
Yeah. Yeah. So I hope you find that useful. Please leave some comment down below. We'd love to hear from you and what your thoughts are. Let me know if you played the game Cards Against Humanity and if you have any questions about how to get the pump. I'll leave the link down below as well. Goodbye now. See you next time.
Goodbye.
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