Last year, nestled among the booths at CES Unveiled, a pristine vegetable dish and hordes of weary tech journalists, I came across the blemish plaster.
At the time, the blemish bandage was more of a concept than a real product – as were many of the gadgets shown at CES. Morari Medical, the company behind the fuzzy plaster, had a pretty minimalist booth. There was a computer with a slideshow about premature ejaculation, and a penisless mannequin with what appeared to be a regular band-aid his perineum.
We had several questions. Would it hurt? Morari Medical CEO Jeff Bennett assured us that at the time no, it wouldn’t be. But still, what would it be to feel Like it? Would tapping a patch and sending an electrical current to “slow down the nerves of the penis, delaying ejaculation” really work? Would brave souls draw their taint as guinea pigs in this study? Would this fuzzy patch ever actually hit the shelves, or was it doomed to become another CES quirk?
It’s been a year since I first saw the fuzzy patch, and friends, I’ve done my due diligence as Gizmodo’s wearables geek to answer as humanly as possible as many of these questions as possible.
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While the fuzzy patch doesn’t have an official name yet, if the Morari Medical press release is any indication, it’s has embraced the vague bandaid name. The company has been testing the patch for the past year real people during beta testing, resulting in a new prototype design.
“We realized that from a design perspective we needed to make some tweaks to the product,” Bennett told Gizmodo over the phone. “Last year it looked more like a plaster, a rectangular product. While the stimulation worked, it didn’t adhere to the skin as well as we wanted. “
Bennett says clinicians were consulted on what would stick to the blemish, a unique piece of human anatomy, resulting in the new butterfly-shaped design. He also stressed the company has gone to great lengths to ensure that the patch does not harm anyone’s sensitive intestines. The new prototype also added Bluetooth connectivity, so users can adjust the intensity level via an app.
“Each person is a little bit different in terms of the energy study we did to get that thrill, and that’s where Bluetooth comes into play,” says Bennet. “We have a working prototype with Bluetooth that will communicate with the product, so when you’re in the heat of the moment you don’t have to worry about putting your finger there trying to feel where the button is to increase or decrease stimulation. “
But how does it work to feel? It’s not that I didn’t trust Bennett when he said they figured out a way to make the dirty plaster, well, blemish-friendly. Still, I wanted to hear from someone who had tested it myself.
“It’s like a little tingle,” says Don (a pseudonym), one of the patch’s beta testers. If you’ve ever had experience with a TENS unit, it’s actually a mild, mild tens unit. “TENS units use transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation actually an adhesive patch that sends a mild current through your skin – to reduce pain.
Don confirmed that the patch was not painful to remove and that he and his wife had used it about four or five times as part of the Morari Medical study. But even if it wasn’t painful, there’s a big money question here. Did it work?!?!?
“It certainly helped to extend the time between penetration and ejaculation. You know, that’s what it was supposed to do, ”said Don. “I was happy with it and with the results.”
Now Don is just one man with one blemish. There are many blemishes in the world, and as Morari Medical points out in its press release, 30% of men experience premature ejaculation – a condition many are embarrassed to talk about in public. For those people, one man’s experience may not be enough to get rid of.
According to Bennett, after beta testing the patch, the company is going found that after the first time, people adjust to the sensation to the point where they no longer feel the patch. “It’s like getting into a hot shower. If you turn it on too hot and you jump right in, you think ‘Ho! That hurts!’ But if you gradually, you know, increase the temperature, that same temperature will not feel so hot anymore. ”
Okay, now that we’ve gotten extensive assurances that the blemish plaster won’t destroy your blemish – now what?
Right now, Bennett says the company has completed enrollment in a feasibility study for couples dealing with premature ejaculation. The study has been 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 ready-to-use patch by the end of this year.
This only gave me more questions. Is this a single use patch? Do you…reuse the faint plaster over and over until your dead skin and sweat make it impossible to stick? How much does an electrical stain plaster cost? Did Morari Medical discover anything … surprising during its beta testing? How about privacy? Will the app collect data about your escapades? The connected sex technology space – affectionately known as the Internet of Dongs – has proven itself time and again somewhat lacking when it comes to privacy and security.
To his credit, Bennett did not shrink from answering my questions.
Simply put, the fuzzy plaster acts like razors and razors. You keep the electrical component, which is ‘encapsulated in a soft material’. This part will also contain a rechargeable battery. However, the adhesive portion will likely be single use. While pricing isn’t final yet, the reusable electronic component may be in the $ 100- $ 200 baseball field, with each single-use patch costing around $ 25. As for privacy, Bennett says the company will not collect identifying data – the Bluetooth is only there to control the patch itself.
As for whether Morari Medical discovered anything unexpected during its beta testing, Bennett was cryptic. “We did, and it’s something we don’t want to reveal just yet. We’re going to try to confirm it in the study we’re doing now. If we can confirm it, it will be very, very good. ”
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