Last year, nestled between the stands of CES Unveiled, an untouched vegetarian dish, and hordes of tired tech journalists, I came across the contaminated bandage.
At the time, the contaminated dressing was more of a concept than a real product – like many gadgets displayed at CES. Morari Medical, the company behind the contaminated dressing, had a very minimalist stand. There was a computer running a slide show on premature ejaculation and a mannequin without a penis with what appeared to be a normal dressing placed your perineum.
We had several questions. Would that hurt? At the time, Morari Medical CEO Jeff Bennett assured us that no it wouldn’t be. But still, what would to feel to like? Would slapping a patch and sending an electric current to “inhibit the nerves in the penis, thereby delaying ejaculation” really work? Would brave souls sign their impurities to be guinea pigs in this research? Would this contaminated dressing really make it to the shelves or was it doomed to be another CES rarity?
It’s been a year since I laid eyes on the contaminated dressing, and friends, I did my due diligence as a Gizmodo wearable nerd to exhaustively answer as many questions as humanly possible.
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Although the contaminated dressing does not yet have an official name, if the Morari Medical press release is any indication, there ares embraced the nickname of contaminated bandaid. Last year, the company tested the patch on real people during beta testing, resulting in a new prototype design.
“We realized that we had to make some changes to the product from a design perspective,” Bennett told Gizmodo by phone. “Last year it looked more like a dressing, a rectangular product. While the stimulation was working, she was simply not sticking and holding the skin as well as we wanted. “
Bennett says doctors were consulted about what would be cling to the macula, a unique piece of human anatomy, which has resulted in the new butterfly-shaped design. He also emphasized the company went to great lengths to make sure the patch didn’t harm anyone’s sensitive kids. The new prototype also added Bluetooth connectivity, so that users can adjust the level of intensity through an application.
“Each person is a little bit different in terms of the energy study we did to get that feeling, and that’s where Bluetooth comes into play,” says Bennet. “We have a functional Bluetooth prototype that will communicate with the product so that when you’re in the heat of the moment, you don’t have to worry about putting your finger there to try to feel where the button is to increase or decrease stimulation. “
But how does that to feel? It’s not that I didn’t trust Bennett when he said they found a way to make the contaminant dressing friendly. Still, I wanted to hear from someone who actually tested it for herself.
“It’s like a little tingle,” says Don (a pseudonym), one of the patch’s beta testers. “If you have had any experience with a TENS Unit, is basically a light, light unit of tens. ”TENS units employ transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation – it is basically a patch that sends a gentle current through your skin – to reduce pain.
Don confirmed that the patch was not painful to remove and that he and his wife used it approximately four or five times as part of the Morari Medical study. But even if it hasn’t been painful, there is a big question of money here. It worked?!?!?
“It definitely helped to increase the time between penetration and ejaculation. Which, you know, was what I really wanted to do, “said Don.” I was happy with that and the results. “
Now, Don is just a man with a stain. There are many stains out there in the world, and as Morari Medical notes in his press release, 30% of men experience premature ejaculation – a condition that many are ashamed to speak publicly about. For these people, a man’s experience may not be enough.
According to Bennett, after beta testing the patch, the company found that after trying for the first time, people adapt to the sensation to the point that they no longer feel the patch. “It is similar to entering a hot bath. If you raise the temperature too much and jump immediately, you’re like, ‘Wow! That hurts!’ But if you gradually increase the temperature, that same temperature will no longer look so hot. ”
OK, now that we’ve received a lot of assurances that the contaminating dressing will not destroy your contamination – what’s next?
Now, Bennett says the company have completed enrollment for a feasibility study for couples dealing with premature ejaculation. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board and Morari Medical expects preliminary results by the end of the first quarter of 2021. The company is also aggressively moving towards a consumer-ready patch by the end of this year.
It just left me with more questions. Is this a single-use patch? You…reuse the bandage contaminated indefinitely, until dead skin and sweat make it impossible to stick? How much will an electrical contamination patch cost? Did Morari Medical discover something … surprising during its beta test? What about privacy? Will the app collect data about your adventures? The space of connected sex technology – affectionately dubbed the internet of dongs – has proven itself over and over again a little missing when it comes to privacy and security.
To his credit, Bennett did not hesitate to answer my questions.
Simply put, the contaminated dressing will work like razors and razors. You keep the electrical component, which will be “encapsulated in a soft material”. This part will also feature a rechargeable battery. However, the adhesive part is likely to be disposable. Although the price is not yet definitive, the reusable electronic component can be in the range of $ 100 to $ 200, with each single-use patch costing around $ 25. As for privacy, Bennett says the company will not collect data identification – Bluetooth is only there to control the patch itself.
As to whether Morari Medical discovered something unexpected during its beta test, Bennett was enigmatic. “Yes, and it is something that we are not yet ready to disclose. We will try to confirm in the study that we are doing now. If we can confirm, it will be a very, very good thing. ”
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