Looking for Viagra in Tenerife? When the real problem is finishing too soon

Many of the people asking about Viagra in Tenerife are staying in Los Cristianos, Playa de las Américas or Costa Adeje. Quite a few of them are not really worried about erections at all. What bothers them is coming too soon, and Viagra was never designed for that: sildenafil is authorised for erectile dysfunction, not for delaying ejaculation.

So this page does two jobs. It tells you how buying these medicines works in Tenerife, and it explains what premature ejaculation is, what is licensed in Spain and what helps without tablets.

Pharmacies in Tenerife South: what to expect

The pharmacies in the resorts follow the same rules as anywhere else in Spain. Sildenafil, tadalafil and dapoxetine are all prescription-only, and there is no over-the-counter version like the UK's Viagra Connect. A pharmacist will want a prescription from a Spanish doctor (public or private) or from a doctor in another EU country. Spanish pharmacies are not obliged to accept a UK prescription; some pharmacists may, at their discretion.

Should you need a doctor during your stay, a European EHIC or a UK GHIC entitles you to state healthcare on local terms, at health centres and in public hospital emergency departments, but not in private clinics, which charge separately. In the south of the island the public option is the Hospital del Sur at El Mojón (Arona), part of the Candelaria hospital group, with an emergency department and outpatient clinics that include urology. Either way, these medicines are not funded by the Spanish system, so you pay the full price.

For out-of-hours pharmacies, the Tenerife pharmacists' college lists duty pharmacies by area (farmacias de guardia), in Spanish.

Is it really premature ejaculation?

Coming quickly now and then, with a new partner, after a long gap or when you're nervous, is common and nothing to treat. Doctors use the definition of the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM), which needs all three of these:

1. Ejaculation that always or nearly always happens within about a minute of penetration, or before it, ever since your first sexual experiences (“lifelong”); or a clear, bothersome drop in time, often to around three minutes or less, in a man who used to last longer (“acquired”).
2. Being unable to hold back on all or nearly all occasions.
3. Distress, frustration or avoiding sex because of it.

For perspective: when couples in five countries timed themselves with a stopwatch (Waldinger, 2005), the median was about 5.4 minutes, with huge differences between men.

Dapoxetine (Priligy): the honest version

Dapoxetine is a short-acting relative of the SSRI antidepressants, licensed only for premature ejaculation. In Spanish pharmacies it is sold as Priligy 30 mg and 60 mg; the CIMA register lists no generics. It is meant for men aged 18 to 64 who ejaculate in under two minutes, with poor control and real distress, on most occasions over the past six months.

You take it only when you expect to have sex, one to three hours beforehand with a full glass of water, and never more than once in 24 hours. Treatment always starts at 30 mg; 60 mg is the ceiling. In the 24-week trial in the product information, median time rose to 1.72 minutes on 30 mg and 1.91 on 60 mg, against 1.05 on placebo. That is a real but modest gain.

Nausea is the commonest side effect (11% of men on 30 mg, 22% on 60 mg), followed by dizziness, headache and diarrhoea, and some men faint, particularly early on. Before the first prescription the doctor should check your blood pressure and pulse lying down and standing up. It must not be combined with alcohol, other antidepressants, triptans, tramadol, lithium, linezolid, St John's wort or PDE5 inhibitors such as Viagra and Cialis, and it is not for men with significant heart disease or a history of fainting. The doctor should review after four weeks (or six doses) whether it is worth continuing.

Techniques that genuinely help

Behavioural methods remain the foundation, and the American Urological Association guideline notes that combining them with medication tends to work better than either alone.

• Stop-start: stop stimulation when you feel you're getting close, wait for the urge to fade, then carry on. Practise alone first, then with your partner.
• Squeeze: the same idea, but gently squeezing just below the head of the penis for a few seconds when you pause.
• Pelvic floor work: learning to find, tense and relax these muscles gives some men better control.
• Talking it through: performance anxiety feeds the problem. A sex therapist works on exactly that, often with both partners.

So where does Viagra fit in?

If coming too soon goes hand in hand with erection problems, treating the erection with sildenafil or tadalafil may be enough, because the fear of losing it goes away. If your erections are fine, there is no solid evidence that Viagra makes you last longer.

What you should not do is mix. The Priligy product information says it should not be used by men taking PDE5 inhibitors, because the combination makes dizziness and fainting on standing more likely. That is why the “super” combination pills are not an upgrade: they are a mixture no European regulator has approved.

Other options a doctor might raise: Fortacin, a lidocaine and prilocaine spray applied to the penis, is authorised in the EU but listed in CIMA as not marketed in Spain. Some doctors prescribe daily antidepressants or clomipramine off-label, which is a clinical decision with side effects of its own.

What this site lists, and what to know about it

• Generic Priligy (dapoxetine): only 60 mg tablets are offered, the maximum dose, whereas treatment must start at 30 mg. No generic dapoxetine is authorised in Spain.
• Super Kamagra (sildenafil 100 mg plus dapoxetine 60 mg): not authorised in the EU, and it combines exactly what the Priligy information says not to combine. We don't recommend it.
• Viagra Generic (sildenafil, 25 to 100 mg): for erection problems, not for delaying ejaculation.
• Cialis Generic (tadalafil, 5 to 20 mg; the 40 mg version is above the authorised maximum): also an erection treatment.

If you live on the island

Residents start with their GP (médico de familia) at the local health centre, using the Canary Islands health service (SCS) card issued there. If a specialist is needed, urology is available at the Hospital Universitario de Canarias in La Laguna, whose services include andrology, and at the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria in Santa Cruz, as well as at the Hospital del Sur.

Holidaymakers' questions

A last practical point: we don't have a shop or pharmacy in Santa Cruz, in the southern resorts or anywhere else on the island. Orders travel by post or courier and, because the Canaries are outside the EU VAT area, they clear customs on arrival before they are delivered. Details are on our delivery conditions page; no delivery times are promised here.

Other cities: medicines in your luggage and prescriptions from home in Málaga, alcohol and nights out in Palma, stress and anxiety in Bilbao.

Sources: Priligy product information and the CIMA register (AEMPS), including the Fortacin entry; Viagra and Cialis product information; ISSM definition of premature ejaculation (2014); AUA/SMSNA guideline on disorders of ejaculation (2020); Waldinger et al., J Sex Med 2005; Canary Islands health service (SCS); Tenerife pharmacists' college; the UK Government's health advice for people visiting Spain. General information, not a diagnosis. In Spain, prescription-only medicines may not be sold online, and customs can hold a parcel that contains them. We do not check prescriptions: talk to your doctor before you order.