The benefits of condoms are well established: they prevent unwanted pregnancies, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and are estimated to have stopped over 45 million HIV infections globally in the past three decades.
Yet, for many people, using one is unappealing. Last year, a YouGov poll found that almost half of sexually active 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK do not use a condom when sleeping with somebody new, while one in ten had never used one at all.
Studies show discomfort is one reason behind reticence to use condoms, and scientists at the Boston School of Medicine think that they have found a solution: the self-lubricating condom.
"We responded to a call from the [Bill and Melinda] Gates Foundation", said Dr Mark Grinstaff, co-author of the study. "They had identified that a prime reason for not using condoms was a lack of lubrication, but that people didn't like using their own. So the idea was that if you could find a way to improve lubrication, you could improve condom use."
Without enough lubrication condoms can split or make sex painful. A common solution is using shop-bought lubricants, but applying them can be messy and they often wear off – disrupting sex.
In 2008 a national survey in the US found that 77 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women enjoyed sex less when they used a condom.
To reduce discomfort, the team in Boston developed a thin coating for condoms which becomes slippery when it comes into contact with water or bodily fluids.
"The latex maintains it's normal properties, and this thin layer sits on top and holds water molecules in a fluid film on the surface," said Dr Grinstaff.
"The last big transformation in the condom world was the development of silicon oil lubricant 50 years ago – so it's almost like we are not using technology which fits this century. Think of how much phones have developed during that time," he added.
To create the slippery coating, researchers in the US bound water-loving polymers to the surface of latex condoms by exposing them to 30 minutes of UV light the report, published in the Royal Society Open Science, explained.
The new condom was significantly more slippery than a condom without lubricant applied. While it was slightly less slippery than a condom with lubricant on, the contraception remained slick for longer.
The new material stayed lubricated over the course of 1,000 thrusts – roughly 16 minutes. Research from the 1980s found that, on average, sex involves between 100 and 500 thrusts.
"Condoms are often perceived as a barrier to sexual pleasure, rather than something that can be used to enhance sex," said Bekki Burbidge, Deputy Chief Executive at sexual health charity FPA. "So if this product can help to change that perception and make condom use more likely it will be a positive step forward."
A group of 33 people, including 13 men, were asked to rate the slip and slide of varying condoms in a blind touch test, and their response was positive. 85 per cent of the group said that the new material was the most slippery once the water was applied and 73 per cent said they’d rather use the self-lubricating condoms.
Last year, there were 420,000 new STI diagnosis in the UK, and Dr Grinstaff said that the condom could target people who do not currently use protection during sex.
"People who said that they don't regularly use a condoms said that they would consider using ours," he said. "That could have a big benefit to society."
The researchers have filed for a patent on the design and created a start up, Hydroglyde Coatings, which is working on bringing the self-lubricating condom to the commercial market in the next couple of years.
Source: telegraph.co
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