Discreet treatment for sex health issues

Sire thesire.sg

WHEN general practitioner Chan Jun Yang was practising in Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Sengkang General Hospital, he often had conversations with male patients who had bedroom troubles and were getting frustrated by them.

"Many of them would share their frustrations about getting help - from having to wait awkwardly in crowded waiting rooms, getting turned away by insensitive healthcare staff, and very long wait times to get affordable treatment," says Dr Chan.

He adds: "With 51 per cent of men in Singapore suffering from erectile dysfunction (ED), men's health should definitely be made much more accessible."

In December 2020, he started Sire, an online men's health clinic focusing on helping men seek help for issues such as ED, male-pattern hair loss and premature ejaculation.

"Singaporean men tend to be hesitant to seek treatments for these conditions due to a fear of 'losing face'," he says.

He also adds that Sire couldn't have started at a better time, as men are openly communicating their needs and are willing to take on a proactive role in improving their relationships. Hence, there has been a rising demand for men's health services.

"Nevertheless, virility and performance is still a sensitive topic," says Dr Chan.

"By using technology and giving men's health an e-commerce front, we are taking away the barriers that used to hinder people from moving forward."

Since it started, Sire has served about 1000 clients, aged from as young as 21 up to 70.

Patients start with an online survey for Sire to better understand their conditions and medical history. This is followed by a video call with Sire's in-house doctors who will be able to prescribe appropriate treatment.

Medication will be delivered, by hand, in three working days. For greater privacy, the medication is sent in discreet packaging.

Sire also offers a subscription service where doctors will review and dispense orders automatically.

While there are similar telemedicine startups that also focus on treating men's health, Dr Chan says Sire is different as "it is the only men's health telemedicine service built by doctors, and the whole experience is supervised by registered health professionals".

Zoey ofzoey.com

AFTER the success of Noah, a digital health clinic for men in 2020, its founders Sean Low and Ethel Tan have gone on to start Zoey - a similar platform catering solely to women.

"Before we started Zoey, just like with Noah, we realised that there was still a gap in the space of telehealth services for women in Singapore - where the breadth of services were restricted to just sexual health. We wanted to bring a more holistic approach to healthcare for women, more than just the physical aspects of health," says Tan.

Zoey offers treatments and services for women which include sexual health issues such as birth control and emergency contraception, aesthetic needs such as acne and hair loss, as well as mental health therapy, smoking cessation, and weight-loss treatments.

As an extension to its sexual health services, Zoey also has a partnership with Lelo, a global leader in intimate lifestyle products.

Regardless of the type of treatment being sought, patients fill up an evaluation form covering their health, lifestyle, symptoms and medical history.

"Every evaluation is unique to each patient based on their answers. This step removes time-consuming, redundant questions, and focuses primarily on the information that will help our doctors determine the best possible treatment for the patient," says Tan.

She adds that each patient's comprehensive medical evaluation will provide Zoey's doctors with detailed information - which is typically more than they would usually get from an in-person consultation. A video call from a doctor completes the consultation process, and medication is sent within four hours.

Tan says that weight loss treatment is Zoey's fastest-growing category.

"But we have also seen a lot of interest looking at Zoey's mental health offerings, perhaps due to the prolonged state of uncertainty of the pandemic where many have fewer social interactions due to their own individual work situation," she says.

She adds Zoey aims to do more than make it easy for women to seek treatment; it wants to help its patients filter out misinformation.

"Seeing that many young women come to us for birth control issues, our team at Zoey have created a page with content that's educational and informative - not only for birth control, but all the other conditions we treat are there for them to refer to, backed by experts in the field to ensure credibility."