Dry orgasms

A 'dry orgasm' is when a man reaches sexual climax but does not ejaculate – no fluid emerges from the penis


What is a dry orgasm?

A 'dry orgasm' is what happens when a man reaches a sexual climax but does not ejaculate – so no fluid emerges from the penis. A lot of males get extremely worried by this.

In a young man, it can be particularly alarming – especially if he does some research on the internet and gets the mistaken idea that dry climaxes must be because of prostate trouble.

In fact, dry orgasms can indeed be caused by some treatments for prostatic disease.


But that particular type of 'fluidless climax' only occurs in middle-aged and older men. It's caused by a phenomenon called retrograde ejaculation, which is dealt with later in this article.

Dry orgasms in younger men

So why do dry climaxes occur so frequently in teenagers and younger adults?

It's quite simple. Most young males are capable of repeated orgasm. This means climaxing two, three, four or even five times in a night. (The most I have heard of is six.)


When a man does this, it's often the case that his genitals simply 'run out' of seminal fluid, and the orgasm doesn't produce any liquid at all.

This can happen on the second climax, the third or the fourth. But when there's no more fluid there, the orgasm will be dry and the man will not ejaculate.

In some cultures and countries, it's quite well known among young males that a repeated orgasm may be a dry one. Unwisely, some of these teenagers or adults do not use a condom – because they think that if the orgasm is dry, they don't need to.

It's easy to assume that a dry climax would be unable to get a female pregnant. In fact, it's a dangerous assumption – since there could easily be some sperm around, even though there's no visible fluid. So, always practise safe sex!

If you have a dry orgasm, don't worry. You're not becoming infertile. By tomorrow, your testicles and your other sex glands will have made some more seminal fluid.

Retrograde ejaculation

A totally different form of dry orgasm occurs in middle-aged or older men – who have had prostate surgery, radiotherapy or other treatment to the prostatic area.

In these circumstances, it's often the case that your treatment will disrupt the 'male plumbing' around the point where the semen enters the urethra.

Retrograde ejaculation occurs when semen, which would normally be ejaculated via the urethra (the urinary pipe), is redirected to the urinary bladder.

So you get a dry orgasm. And next time that you pee, your urine will be cloudy. This appearance is nothing to be worried about.

Your urological surgeon (urologist), should have warned you that retrograde ejaculation can occur after surgery. But in practice, this warning is often not given.


When dry orgasms are due to retrograde ejaculation, it's quite common for the man to complain that climaxes feel 'different' or 'not as intense'.

This is because he's not getting the sudden pleasurable distension of the urinary pipe that should occur when the semen shoots into it, during the last second or so before ejaculating.

Also, a small number of men are concerned about retrograde ejaculation because it can prevent a man from being able to father children.

In such cases, his sperm can be extracted from the urine and used to impregnate his partner by artificial insemination.

This is specialised work and usually needs to be done by a fertility clinic.

Dry orgasm due to pressure

If there's a lot of pressure on the urinary pipe, the fluid will not come out of it. Many men are aware that if they squeeze the penis hard, there will be no actual ejaculation. But the liquid will leak out immediately afterwards.

In the same way: if somebody presses the man hard, over the area of skin between the testicles and the anus that can also cause a dry orgasm. But I do not recommend this practice as a form of contraception.

It's been claimed that sometimes cyclists, who are subject to a lot of pressure from their bike saddles at precisely the same spot, may get dry orgasms. Personally, I haven't seen such a case.

Dry orgasm due to drugs or medications

Various drugs, legal and illegal, are sometimes claimed to produce dry orgasms.

In particular, between 2005 and 2007, two doctors, working at King's College, London, developed a pill that they intended to be used as a male contraceptive. It contained two drugs – thioridazine and phenoxybenzamine – that reduced the powerful contractions of the muscle in the tubes, which carry the sperm, thereby diminishing the quantity of the ejaculate.

But so far this work hasn't progressed very far, and the side-effects of the drugs are also quite daunting.

Other factors that can produce dry orgasms

In 2009, the Mayo Clinic in the USA produced a list of other factors that can make orgasms dry.

Please do not be alarmed if you look up this list, because many of these conditions are rare.

They include:

The first three of those are essentially blockages in the 'plumbing', and it's possible that a urologist could unblock them.

Tantric sex

I have talked with devotees of tantric sex, who claim that they can control their bodies so effectively that orgasm can take place without actual ejaculation of fluid. They say that sometimes a man can have many of these orgasms, one after the other, before he eventually decides to ejaculate.

Critics of tantric sex theory would argue that these men are not really having orgasms at all.

Dry orgasms for fun

In 2015, there was several rather 'laddish' sites on the web which claim how to teach young men how to STOP ejaculation at the last minute - so that you orgasm without actually ejaculating. 

What's the point of that? Well, two claims are being made:

  • That the sensation is more intense
  • That the practice enables you to have multiple climaxes.

The idea usually seems to be that you train yourself to use your pelvic muscles in such a way as to produce orgasm without ejaculation. And you have to stop all stimulation immediately before you 'come'. Frankly, at the moment we are rather unconvinced. But at least the practice does seem to be harmless.

Summing up

In young men, nearly all dry orgasms are simply because the body has temporarily run out of seminal fluid, after one or more previous climaxes.

In mature men, who have had prostate treatment, dry orgasms are likely to be because of retrograde ejaculation into the bladder.

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